THIS WEEK IN PEACOCK MEN'S SOCCER... The Upper Iowa men's soccer team will take a break from MIAA play for a week as they head south to Oklahoma for a pair of non-conference matchups. The Peacocks will stay in Shawnee, Okla. on Thursday for a matchup with the Oklahoma Baptist Bison at 5 p.m., and then will head over to Bethany, Okla. to square off with the Southern Nazarene Crimson Storm on Saturday at 12 p.m. Upper Iowa is 5-1 this season in non-conference action, and will look for more continued success on the road, as they are 3-0 in true away games outside of the MIAA.
THE SERIES... The Peacocks will line up against Oklahoma Baptist for the first time on Thursday night. OBU resides in the Great American Conference. Upper Iowa is perfect in the overall series with Southern Nazarene, as they lead 5-0 all-time. The two teams met last season down in St. Charles, Mo., with UIU coming away with a 2-0 win. The teams met four times from 2012-14, with two games played in Fayette and two played in Bethany, and UIU earned wins in all four matchups. The Peacocks have outscored the Crimson Storm 11-4 in the five wins.
PEACOCKS SPLIT... Upper Iowa picked up a non-conference road win at William Jewell last Wednesday in Liberty, Mo. before falling at home to Lindenwood 3-0. After trailing at halftime to the Cardinals, the Peacocks rallied with two second-half goals to overcome the deficit and pick up the victory. Italo Martins Soares scored to tie the match, and
Seth Russell scored his first goal of the season late for the game-winner. On Sunday in Fayette, Lindenwood outshot Upper Iowa 21-8 for the game. The Lions struck first in the opening half, and added two more scores in the second frame to pull away in the match.
FILE, SAVE... Senior goalkeeper
Connor Rortvedt has been continuing to tally saves this season in net for the Peacocks. The Verona, Wis. native has now tallied 60 saves in 2017, which leads the MIAA and ranks 26th nationally. Rortvedt's 5.45 saves per game ranks second in the league and 23rd the country. The goalkeeper is on pase for 93 saves this season, which would shatter his season-best of 76 back in 2014. Rortvedt is tallied 282 career saves in goal for the Peacocks.
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS...
vs. OKLAHOMA BAPTIST... The Bison (4-7-1, 2-3 GAC) dropped a pair of one-goal decisions last week, but are looking to get back on track with the first of two nonconference matches this week. Upper Iowa (5-6, 0-5 MIAA) have similarly fallen on hard times, losing five of their last six. The Bison are led offensively by Luis Romero with five goals this season, while Thiago Dos Santos is second with four goals. As a team, OBU is averaging 1.92 goals per match on 16.1 shots, and own an assist rate of .522. In total, nine different Bison have found the back of the net this season.
vs. SOUTHERN NAZARENE... The Crimson Storm (0-13-1, 0-5 GAC) dropped a 5-0 decision to Ouachita Baptist and a 4-1 decision to Harding last week. SNU has scored six times this season, with Pedro Garcia leading the way with three scores. Jeff Ray and Dakota Ellicott have split time in the net, with Ray tallying 58 saves and Ellicott registering 49.
