THIS WEEK IN PEACOCK MEN'S SOCCER… Upper Iowa closes out the season in Illinois as they take on Illinois Springfield, Friday, Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m. and McKendree on Sunday, Nov. 3 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/ and Live Stats can be viewed at
https://uisprairiestars.com/sidearmstats/msoc/summary against UIS and
https://mckbearcats.com/sidearmstats/msoc/summary against McKendree. All the links will be included with this story.
HIGH-PERFORMING PEACOCKS… Junior
Diogo Cardoso is coming off a season-high nine-save performance against UMSL and he has recorded 27 saves over six games. Both he and
JJ Gonzalez-Hayes have split reps in goal with Gonzalez-Hayes accumulating 55 saves in 12 appearances with nine starts. He has recorded double digit saves twice on the year, with a career-high 11 saves against Lincoln. On the offensive side, freshman
Julian Mesen leads the Peacocks with three goals on the season. Seniors
Daniel Pranger and
Fabio Bender, and fifth year
Thomas Walle have each scored twice on the season with Pranger adding an assist against Roosevelt. Fifth year
Daigo Adachi and junior
Alejandro Sanchez have each dished out a team-high four assists. Both players picked up consecutive assists against Southwest Baptist and Lincoln, while Sanchez also scored the opening goal against SBU.
PRAIRIE STARS PREVIEW… Illinois Springfield has posted a 4-6-5 overall record with a 4-3-5 GLVC mark which puts them at the #6-seed in the conference. Fifth year Joey Fitzgerald leads the GLVC with seven assists on the season, despite the fact that he has missed the past four games. He has scored three goals this year and recorded a goal with three assists in UIS' 4-3 win against Drury. Fifth year Kevin Herrera leads the team with four goals and he added an assist against Wisconsin-Parkside. He is coming off his best game of the season as he scored twice against Saint Cloud State while playing all 90 minutes for the first time this season. Like UIU, the Prairie Stars have split reps between their two goalies. Freshman Joe Brudnak has started in eight of their 15 matches and has recorded the best save percentage in the GLVC at 83.0%. He has garnered 44 saves on the season and recorded a career-high ten saves against William Jewell.
UNDEFEATED BEARCATS… McKendree has posted a 9-0-6 overall record while going 6-0-6 in the GLVC, clinching a postseason berth. Sophomore Christian Herluf has posted the second-best save percentage in the conference at 81.6% while accumulating 31 saves. He has recorded a GLVC-leading nine shutouts on the year and has posted the best goals against average in the conference at .469 goals allowed per game. Senior Philipp Schmidt has recorded team-highs with five goals and four assists, ranking fifth in the GLVC in total points. He put together a two-goal performance against Rockhurst and scored a goal and an assist against Ohio Dominican. Freshman Matthaeus Hirschmann has added four goals and three assists, ranking tenth in the conference in total points. He scored a goal and dished out an assist in the season opener against Rogers State and achieved the same feat two games later against Rockhurst.
