THIS WEEK IN PEACOCK MEN'S SOCCER… The Upper Iowa University men's soccer team will kick off postseason play against Purdue University - Northwest in the GLIAC Tournament Quarterfinals on Monday, Nov. 8 at 12 p.m. in Hammond, Ind.

LIVE COVERAGE OPTIONS… We've got you covered with several live options while the Peacocks are on the road. Live stats and webcasts produced by Purdue-Northwest will be available through the links included with this story and at UIUPeacocks.com/LIVE. The PNW webcast requires pay-per-view access, but live stats are provided free of charge.

LAST WEEK IN PEACOCK MEN'S SOCCER... The Peacocks defended their home pitch and closed their regular season campaign with a 2-1 win over St. Cloud State University on Nov. 4 in Fayette. The Peacocks had multiple great looks in the first half and earned a 5-1 advantage in corner kicks through the first 45 minutes, but the period ended with just two shots from UIU and one from SCSU, with none of the attempts being on target as neither team could get going offensively and the defenses held firm. In the second period, UIU turned up the offensive pressures and out-shot SCSU by a 9-5 margin that included a 6-2 advantage in shots on goal. The Peacocks also earned a 5-1 advantage in corner kicks again in the second half, and the first goal of the match came off of a corner kick played into the box by Marcus DeLeon that Brady Dozdowski put into the back of the net to give Upper Iowa a 1-0 lead at the 72:34 mark.

Just over a minute later, the Huskies attempted to start an attack of their own, but Erick Lopez dispossessed a SCSU player at midfield and allowed DeLeon to come up with the loose ball with a numbers advantage. DeLeon played a through ball that found Frider Blunck streaking toward the St. Cloud goal, and he blew past the SCSU keeper who had come all the way out toward the edge of the box in an attempt to make a stop. With no keeper in the net, Blunck took a moment to get himself in position and ripped a ball past a lone SCSU defender that found the back of the net and quickly doubled the UIU lead to 2-0 at the 73:55 mark. St. Cloud cut their deficit in half with a goal at the 80:12 mark, but UIU conceded just one more shot to SCSU and held on to clinch the 2-1 win on Pattison Field.

UIU POSTSEASON HISTORY... Upper Iowa will be making its second straight appearance in the GLIAC Postseason Tournament after playing in last season's tournament in the spring. The Peacocks fell by a score of 4-0 in a first-round matchup against Saginaw Valley State University, the No. 7 team in NCAA DII and the regular season GLIAC Champions. Upper Iowa's best postseason run came in their 2015 campaign as the Peacocks won the MIAA tournament and made a run to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA DII Men's Soccer Tournament.

RANKED IN THE REGION... The Upper Iowa men's soccer team checked in at No. 12 in the first two NCAA DII Men's Soccer Regional Rankings. The second version of the regional rankings included records through Monday, Oct. 31. The Peacocks finished the season with a 10-6-1 (7-6-1 GLIAC) record, and their 10-6-1 record matches their in-region record as they opened their season by going 3-0 against non-conference opponents in the region. Upper Iowa was joined by three other Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference schools with the University of Wisconsin-Parkside at No. 3, Davenport University at No. 10, and Saginaw Valley State at No. 11. The NCAA DII Men's Soccer Championships are scheduled to be played from Dec. 9-11.

PREPARING FOR THE PRIDE, PT. 3...  Purdue University - Northwest finished the season with a record of 8-8-1 (7-6-1 GLIAC). Purdue-Northwest was voted to finish fourth in the GLIAC Men's Soccer Preseason Coaches' Poll and finished fourth in the end-of-season standings. Though they tied UIU's in-conference mark and had a worse overall record, PNW claimed the fourth seed in the GLIAC Tournament because their 2-0 record against the Peacocks gave them the tiebreaker. Since a win over UIU on Oct. 17, the Pride have gone 1-3-1 to end the season. Purdue-Northwest dropped a pair of 1-0 matches against Wisconsin-Parkside and Northern Michigan University before a 4-1 win over Northwood University on Oct. 29, but they closed their regular season with a 0-0 draw against Saginaw Valley State and a 3-1 loss at home to Davenport. The Pride finished with a 5-4 record at home, while the Peacocks finished with a 5-3-1 record as the visitor. 

Purdue-Northwest tied for fourth in the GLIAC with 31 goals scored while tying for the second-fewest goals allowed with 22. PNW out-shot their opponents 229-177, including a 97-85 advantage in shots on goal. Offensively, Isaiah Nieves paces the Pride with 55 shots, 22 points, and 10 assists, finishing second in the GLIAC in dimes. Nieves has also added six goals, but Ryan Moran leads the Pride in goals with seven. Goalkeeper Sebastian Contreras ranked fourth in the conference with 46 saves, second in save percentage at .754, and third in goals against average at 1.02.

PEACOCKS VS. PRIDE - THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM... The Pride hold a 4-0-1 record all-time against Upper Iowa, including a 2-0 record over UIU this season. PNW secured a 3-0 win at home in Hammond, Ind. earlier this season on Sep. 17 and a 3-1 win over UIU in Fayette on Oct. 17.

In their first meeting of the season, neither team was able to make much of a push in the first half as the score remained tied through the first 45 minutes. Purdue-Northwest got on the board first after an attack saw the Pride draw a foul and score on the ensuing free kick in the 54th minute. The Peacocks took some self-inflicted damage in the 72nd minute as an own goal doubled the PNW lead to 2-0. Upper Iowa took the next three shots of the match as they tried to cut into their deficit, but the next goal came from Purdue-Northwest in the 87th minute to swell the lead to 3-0. UIU took the final shot of the match at the 88:37 mark, but the conference opener for both teams ended with a 3-0 win for PNW.

In their most recent match, the Peacock attack pushed through for the first goal of the match at the 21:45 mark after Italo Martins Soares and Tate Lofdahl assisted Stan Cargill to put Upper Iowa up 1-0. Purdue-Northwest quickly evened the score with a goal of their own at the 22:59 mark. After a chippy first period, an even more physical second half saw each team miss their first shot before Purdue-Northwest's Christian Booth scored to put PNW up 2-1 at the 54:40 mark. Booth would take and make the next shot of the match at the 59:03 mark to increase the PNW lead to 3-1. Whistles, fouls, and yellow cards disrupted the pace of play for much of the second period, and neither team was able to convert on an offensive attack despite a few chances on each side, and the score remained 3-1 at full time as the Pride held on to win the match.
 

2021 Team Leaders	POINTS	GOALS	ASSISTS	SHOTS	SAVES
UPPER IOWA	Martins Soares - 25	Martins Soares - 10	Dunlop - 8	Martins Soares - 48	Alonzo - 32
Purdue-Northwest	Nieves - 22	Moran - 7	Nieves - 10	Nieves - 55	Contreras - 46