MSUB Men's Soccer Recap 9/26/15

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Evan O’Kelly Director of Communications O: (406) 657-2130 E: evan.okelly@msubillings.edu Saturday, September 26, 2015 Yellowjackets battle Clan to 1-1 double-overtime draw

Rhys Lambert scores his first goal of the season on a header, but SFU equalizes with a penalty kick and the two teams draw 1-1 in double overtime Saturday.

BILLINGS, Mont. – Rhys Lambert scored his first goal of the season in the 24th minute for the Montana State University Billings men’s soccer team, but visiting Simon Fraser University equalized with a second-half penalty kick as the two teams battled to a 1-1 double-overtime draw on Saturday in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference match at Yellowjacket Field.

MSUB nearly walked away with a victory in the final 10 seconds of the second OT period, but SFU’s Shane Satar stood as the lone defender between a last-ditch shot by the Yellowjackets’ David Loeung and the net. SFU keeper Brandon Watson had come off his line on the play, but Loeung’s shot was intercepted by Satar before it reached the goal line.

The Yellowjackets (4-1-2, 2-0-1 GNAC) remained unbeaten at home this season and in conference play as MSUB now has seven points through three matches. The Yellowjackets entered Saturday’s game in first place in the conference standings.

“As a coaching staff right now, after the game we walked off field satisfied with our performance,” commented MSUB head coach Alex Balog. “Our guys played with so much heart and I love coaching this team.”

The teams were dead-even in shots with 13 apiece, and MSUB placed five attempts on target while SFU had three.

Yellowjacket goalkeeper Tom Lohmann came up with a pair of saves while Watson had three in the net for the Clan.

“We had a couple of opportunities to score a second goal, but they came at us full force and we had to match that intensity,” Balog said. “We stayed organized, kept space between our lines, and that was part of our plan before the match. We emphasized that we needed to stay focused for 110 minutes if necessary, and SFU is a very good team.

They’re well coached, and our guys matched them with an incredible work rate.”

Simon Fraser moves to 1-2-3 overall on the season and the Clan is still searching for its first GNAC win at 0-1-2. Michael North led the squad with four shots on the match, as he, Jones, and Calvin Opperman accounted for SFU’s three shots on target.

“When I look at this team and see how we play with the heart, desire, and passion that we did today, I haven’t seen much more effort put into a game in my four years here,” commented senior captain Cameron Lee. “Simon Fraser is an extremely good program, and defensively the guys all played with their hearts. There is nothing more as a captain, as a senior that I could ask for and I am so proud of the guys.”

Preventing a goal in the opening five minutes, Lohmann sprinted off of his line and slid to knock away a shot attempt by Opperman.

Niklas Schregel played a high, long ball the full width of the field to Thiago Novis with 15 minutes gone in the match.

Novis whipped a curling cross in towards the six-yard box, but SFU’s back line cleared it for a corner kick just before Ricardo Palomino could get there as MSUB narrowly missed a scoring chance.

Midway through the first half, Schregel was fouled near the sideline on the left side of the field. Sam Butterworth set up the free kick from 45 yards away, and Lambert flicked it into the back of the net with his head to give the ‘Jackets the lead with his first goal of the season.

“It is good to see that all of our practice in training on set pieces is starting to pay off,” Lambert commented on the goal.

“We are starting to connect, and it is good to be a genuine threat on set pieces. Overall this was a fantastic effort by the boys, and I am so proud of everyone. We fought from minute one to minute 110 in this case, and we are still unbeaten at home on our field in 2015.”

Less than five minutes into the second the Yellowjackets nearly doubled their edge. Receiving a long ball in the box, Jorge Paez rolled a cross through the six-yard box to Loeung. The senior’s sliding shot beat the goalkeeper, but rolled just wide of the far post and out of bounds.

Earning a foul inside of the box during a corner kick, the Clan capitalized by converting a penalty kick. Adam Jones stepped to the spot from 12 yards out and neatly tucked away his third goal of the season into the lower-left corner of the goal.

With 26 minutes remaining, Julian Toenges beat a pair of defenders in the middle and found Paez on the right side of the goal box. The sophomore drove a shot on target, but Watson held it for a save.

MSUB dodged a bullet four minutes later, as Kyle Jones ran onto a cross and slid for the ball at the six-yard box with an open net. His touch was just late however, and the ball rolled wide of the left goal post.

Eli Williams was a major contributor to MSUB’s defensive effort down the stretch, helping lock down SFU’s attackers down the right side and turning in 51 quality minutes off of the bench.

Along the back line for the ‘Jackets, Tom Saltwell and Lee played all 110 minutes, and Garret Robinson turned in 88 minutes in his seventh start of the year.

Lambert led the team with five shots – placing two on goal – and Loeung was close behind with four. The Clan held the GNAC’s leading scorer, Palomino, without a shot on the match as his season goal total remained at nine.

THE BUZZ: Williams earned St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Game honors for his key contribution as a defender off the bench…Simon Fraser won nine corner kicks while MSUB tallied four…each team was whistled for 17 fouls in the match.

COMING UP: MSUB hits the road next week to face GNAC opponents Concordia University (Ore.) and Northwest Nazarene University. The Yellowjackets will battle the Cavaliers in Portland, Ore., on Oct. 1, before heading to Nampa, Idaho two days later to face the Crusaders.

“We can go into next weekend’s trip with tremendous confidence,” Balog said. “Right now we are tough to break defensively, and are doing very well offensively.”

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