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For Immediate ReleaseMen's Soccer -- Sept. 12, 2011
Eureka Men's Soccer Weekly Notebook: Sept. 12, 2011
PDF Version of Eureka Men's Soccer Weekly Notebook
THE WEEK AHEAD The Eureka College men’s soccer team will play back-to-back matches against first-time opponents this week. The Red Devils will travel west to the state of Iowa on Wednesday night for a 7 p.m. kickoff at Dubuque before hosting Lake Forest this Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. at Traister Field.
SCOUTING DUBUQUE Dubuque will enter Wednesday night’s matchup at Oyen Soccer Field with a 4-0-0 record. Members of the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, the Spartans have allowed only one goal in 360 minutes played this season and own shutout victories over Monmouth, Concordia (Ill.) and Wisconsin-Whitewater.
Brad Johnson is in his third year as head coach at Dubuque and guided the Spartans to a share of the IIAC title last season. He owns a 33-9-2 record since the beginning of the 2009 season.
Senior forward Pablo Martinez shares the IIAC lead with 25 shots attempted through Dubuque’s first four matches and ranks tied for second among league leaders with four goals. Senior goalkeeper Nicholas Kasper has played all but five minutes in goal this season and leads the IIAC with a 0.25 goals against average and a .944 save percentage.
Wednesday’s contest marks the first all-time matchup between the Red Devils and Spartans and Eureka’s first night game since dropping a 3-0 decision at Westminster on Oct. 9, 2010.
AGAINST THE IIAC The Red Devils are 0-3-0 against active members of the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, including a 0-1-0 mark in true road games.
Eureka dropped both matches in a two-year series against Coe in 2009 and 2010. The Red Devils also fell in a 5-4 decision to Cornell at the 2009 Sal Vacarro Tournament hosted by North Central in Napervill, Ill., the first neutral site game in program history.
SCOUTING LAKE FOREST The Red Devils will return to Traister Field this Saturday for a 3 p.m. kickoff versus Lake Forest.
Like Eureka’s first opponent of the week, the Foresters carry a perfect 4-0-0 mark into the week’s competition. The Red Devils represent LFC’s final stop on a three-match road trip this week, as the Foresters will visit Northern Athletics Conference members Benedictine (Tuesday) and Concordia (Ill.) (Thursday) before visiting Traister Field on Saturday.
The Foresters have outscored their opponents 13-3 during their current four-match winning streak to open the season, including an 8-1 win at common opponent Rockford on Sept. 4.
Former Division I Northwestern assistant Chris Bergmann is 18-17-1 as of Monday in his third season as head coach and helped engineer a five-and-a-half win improvement for the Foresters from 2009 to 2010.
The potent Lake Forest offense has received goals from seven different Foresters this season, including a team-best four strikes from sophomore forward Mahir Mameledzija. LFC is equally strong on its defensive end, as junior goalkeeper Giancarlo Colasanti has posted a 0.74 goals against average and a .812 save percentage in 366 minutes.
AGAINST THE MWC Saturday’s contest at Traister Field will mark the 11th time the Red Devils have hit the pitch against a team from the Midwest Conference.
Eureka is 3-7-0 in its previous 10 outings, but is 1-0-0 this season after knocking off Knox last Wednesday. The Foresters represent the second of three MWC opponents for the Red Devils this season.
SENIORS LIFT RED DEVILS Eureka senior Derek Johnson scored a pair of goals and senior Cody Halstead netted the game-winning goal in the 81st minute to lift the Red Devils to a 4-3 victory over Knox last Wednesday.
Halstead took a feed from freshman Gerald Barnett and raced on a long run down the right side of the pitch. His right-footed shot sailed past Knox goalkeeper Franz Huebner with just 9:02 left in the match, Halstead’s first goal of the season and 11th goal of his Eureka career.
Eureka jumped to an early lead on a goal just 106 seconds into the match. Johnson was awarded a penalty kick in the second minute after being taken down during a scramble in the Knox penalty area. He buried the ensuing penalty kick to give the Red Devils an early 1-0 lead. He later scored in the 55th minute to force a 2-2 tie.
STRUGGLES IN ROCKFORD Halstead hit the back of the net for the second consecutive game, but host Rockford scored a pair of goals midway through the second half to earn a 3-1 non-conference victory over the Red Devils last Saturday
Halstead’s tally at 48:42 on an assist from sophomore Tom Moody forced a 1-1 tie after Rockford’s Matt Nicholson opened the scoring with a 25th minute tally. Nicholson scored for a second time in the 65th minute, breaking the tie and pushing Rockford in front for the remainder of the match.
Philip Pressgrove added a 69th minute insurance tally for the Regents.
MULLINS STEPS UP Making his first start in goal since Oct. 29, 2009, junior goalkeeper Nathan Mullins made eight saves in the full 90 minutes versus Knox last Wednesday. The win was the third of his career, moving him into a tie with current teammate Tyler Mumm for second place on the all-time Eureka list.
Former Eureka keepers Justin Horrer (2008) and Jay Linsley (2009-10) share the school record with four wins apiece.
BARNETT GETS THE HELPER Eureka freshman Gerald Barnett played a pivotal role in Eureka’s game-winning goal versus Knox last Wednesday.
With the score knotted at 3-3 and the clock eclipsing the 80-minute mark, the newcomer from Peoria, Ill. found Cody Halstead on a run up the right side before Halstead deposited the match-winner for the Red Devils.
It was the first career assist for Barnett, who played only 22 minutes in the match and didn’t enter the contest in the second half until the 74th minute.
NEW RECORD HOLDER Earning his second start in goal of the 2011 season, sophomore Tyler Mumm played the full 90 minutes at Rockford Saturday to become the all-time leader in minutes played among Eureka goalkeepers.
Mumm, who was making his 19th career start in goal, ran his career total 1,648 minutes to pass the previous record of 1,575 minutes held by Justin Horrer (2008). Garin Pisano, the first goalkeeper in program history, ranks third with 1,394 minutes played between the pipes.
BREAKING AWAY FROM THE PACK As the first group of four-year players in program history, seniors Richie Gregory, Evan Kingery and Derek Johnson rank 1-2-3 on the all-time Eureka games played list. As the 2011 season progresses, the senior trio will break away from the pack as the all-time leaders.
Johnson is currently the all-time leader with 61 matches played, followed by Kingery with 60 and Gregory with 59. David Crady (2008-10) ranks fourth with 57.
WEEKLY NOTABLES Eureka’s win over Knox last Wednesday marked the first time in program history the Red Devils rallied from a halftime deficit to win.
Derek Johnson successfully converted the first penalty kick of his career and recorded his first multi-goal game against Knox.
Cody Halstead matched a career-high twice last week with seven shots versus Knox and again at Rockford.
Tom Moody set new career-bests with three shots and three shots on goal against Knox and picked up his first career assist at Rockford on Saturday.
Freshman Neal Buck and sophomore Kirby Wagner each attempted their first career shots on goal last week.
SLIAC PotW NOMINEE Eureka senior forward Cody Halstead is Eureka’s St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week nominee for the week of Sept. 5-11.
Halstead scored in each of Eureka’s contests last week, including the game-winner in the 81st minute of Eureka’s 4-3 triumph over Knox on Wednesday. His two goals for the week gives him 12 goals for his EC career, two behind Serkan Bakirdan (2009) for third place on the all-time Eureka list.
AROUND THE SLIAC Eureka’s victory over Knox last Wednesday was one of 10 non-conference victories for St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference members last week.
Webster earned vicotories over Aurora (1-0, Monday) and Millikin (3-2, Sunday), while Greenville also posted two wins, beating Harris-Stowe (3-2, Wednesday) and Monmouth (4-0, Saturday).
Fontbonne also earned a 1-0 shutout victory over Rose-Hulman last Tuesday.
Non-conference action continues Tuesday. All nine teams will be in action this Saturday, while Westminster, Webster and Fontbonne will play back-to-back with scheduled matches on Sunday.
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For More Information Contact:
Bryan Moore
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