THIS WEEK IN PEACOCK MEN'S SOCCER… Upper Iowa looks to avenge their first loss of the season and return to their winning ways. The Peacocks will have a busy weekend as they host Illinois-Springfield on Friday, Sep. 22 at 7:30 p.m. and Quincy on Sunday, Sep. 24 at 2:30 p.m.
LIVE COVERAGE OPTIONS… Upper Iowa offers numerous ways for you to stay connected to men's soccer this week. Webcasts for every game can be found through the GLVC website at https://glvcsn.com/uiu/. Live Stats and the Webcast can be found at https://uiupeacocks.com/coverage. Both links will be included with this story.
SENSATIONAL START… The Peacocks started the season with back-to-back 5-1 victories, followed that up with a tie and wrapped up non-conference play with a 4-2 victory. Their opening game in conference play ended in a loss to Truman State and UIU currently sits at 3-1-1 on the year. Sophomore goalkeeper JJ Gonzalez-Hayes is expected to start as senior goalkeeper Archie Watts who leads the conference with a phenomenal 0.87 save percentage is still questionable with an injury. Gonzalez-Hayes made two very impressive saves to start his career in his first game off the bench, and he has started the Peacocks' last two games. He has a record of 1-1 as a starter and has eight saves on the season.
DOMINANT DEFENSE… UIU's primary starting defensive line of graduate Daigo Adachi, sophomores Dexter Garrett and Florian Dieck and freshman Tura Dalu has been exceptional to start the season. Junior defender Ethan Bird has also started the past two games, heading in a goal in his first start of the season. You would assume a group of defenders wouldn't play a huge part in the scoring game but that couldn't be further from the truth for the Peacocks. Adachi has four assists on the season which is second in the entire conference. Garrett took five shots on goal in the Peacocks season opener, scoring twice and being named Player of the Game. Dieck also found the back of the net in Upper Iowa's 5-1 victory over St. Cloud State and Dalu leads all players on the team in minutes.
GOALS GALORE… Upper Iowa's offense has been just as impressive as graduate forward Thomas Walle and junior midfielder Frider Blunck lead the entire conference in goals with three each. Blunck is also tied for 4th in the conference with three assists while Walle has picked up one assist on the season and leads the entire conference in shots on goal with ten. One of the players that Blunck is tied with in the three three assists club is fellow teammate sophomore midfielder David Mateo Porras Rodriguez. While he's a sensational playmaker, Rodriguez is just as good of a scorer as he also has two goals on the season. Freshman midfielder Preston Price has only appeared in three of the Peacocks five games but despite the limited minutes he has both a goal and an assist on the year. Rounding out UIU's goalscorers are senior midfielder Patrick Carney and junior forward Kehinde Afolabi who have both scored one goal.
IGNITED ILLINOIS-SPRINGFIELD… Illinois-Springfield has a record of 3-1-2 highlighted by a 1-0 victory over Maryville who was picked to win the conference in the GLVC Preseason Coaches' Poll. Graduate goalkeeper Andrea Scapolo has started the past four games recording a 0.75 save percentage with nine saves and two shutouts. Like Upper Iowa, the Prairie Stars have two players with three goals scored in graduate forwards Joe Conway and Or Levinstein. Unlike Upper Iowa whose two leading goalscorers have combined for four assists, neither of Illinois-Springfield's top two scorers have any assists on the year. The team's go-to playmaker is graduate forward Max Tweddle who has picked up four assists on the season while starting in every game. The defensive line has been anchored by a trio of graduates in Drew Keller, Adrian Adames and Riccardo Sandulli. Keller has played all but nine minutes while Adames has only missed 18 minutes on the year. Adames scored both goals in the Prairie Stars 2-2 tie against Davenport and Sandulli has added one goal on the season.
QUICKENDED QUINCY… Quincy has started the season 2-4, winning two of their last three games. Freshman goalkeeper George Roke leads the entire conference with 34 saves which is 14 more than the next best player, but he's also allowed a conference high 14 goals. He has recorded a 0.71 save percentage and one shutout on the year. The Hawks have five assists on the season and despite the fact that he's missed a game, junior defender Rennato Ramos has recorded all five of those assists. He leads the conference in assists and he also scored in the Hawks' season opener against Wisconsin-Parkside. Ramos' best performance came in Quincy's shutout victory over Missouri S&T where he picked up all three assists in the game. Sophomore midfielder Lewis Chapman has scored three goals while starting in every game and sophomore midfielder Marcel Kaspar has two goals on the year.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS… Following their homestand, the Peacocks will travel to Springfield, Missouri to go up against 0-3-3 Drury who currently sit at 0-1-1 in conference play. The match will be held on Friday, Sep. 29 at 7:30 p.m.
