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Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo
Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo.

Raiders take on Tech in final home game of regular season

10/19/2018 1:39:00 PM

4 p.m. Saturday – SOU (12-2-1, 9-0-1) vs. Oregon Tech (6-6-2, 5-4-1) – Raider Stadium
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ASHLAND – The Southern Oregon University men's soccer team's first class of four-year seniors will be celebrated Saturday at Raider Stadium, but first it can help the Raiders inch closer toward another Cascade Conference championship.

The No. 19-ranked Raiders (12-2-1 overall, 9-0-1 CCC) will play their final home game, at least of the regular season, at 4 p.m. against sixth-place Oregon Tech (6-6-2, 5-4-1) as they try to extend their run of 13 consecutive games without a loss. Between games, SOU will recognize seniors Ahmon Afenegus, Damian Alatorre, Carlos Magana, Paul Matyas, Mitchell Pinney and Daniel Zamores.

NAIA TOP 25: SOU jumped five spots in Tuesday's NAIA Top 25 polls after turning in two more shutouts over the weekend, 5-0 over Northwest (Wash.) and 1-0 over Evergreen (Wash.). Along with the Raiders, Corban (11-1-1, 8-0-1) also went up five spots to No. 10. Their spikes were the result of Corban's 2-0 win Friday at Rocky Mountain (11-3, 7-2), which had previously lost by the same score against SOU and dropped from 11th to 22nd in the poll.

SCOREBOARD WATCHING: Corban remains three points behind the Raiders with one less game played. The Warriors will travel to Eastern Oregon on Friday and Walla Walla (Wash.) on Sunday, then finish their regular season at home against Multnomah and Warner Pacific; of those teams, EOU is the only one with a winning record. The conference champion will get an automatic berth in the NAIA Tournament and the No. 1 seed at the CCC Tournament Nov. 7-10 in Springfield. If SOU and Corban finish as co-champs, the tiebreaker would go to the team that allowed the fewest goals in CCC play; to this point, both have given up two. The second tiebreaker, if necessary, is goal differential, with a max difference of three per game; SOU is currently plus-19, and Corban is plus-14.

INSIDE THE STREAK: The Raiders' shutouts last week were their ninth and 10th during the unbeaten streak, putting them at No. 2 on the NAIA leaderboard in total shutouts. The highest number of shots on goal they've allowed over their last seven games is three, and the most they've allowed during the 13-game stretch is six. Conversely, they've averaged just under 10 shots on goal. Nine different players have registered game-winners after Esteban Castaneda and Zak Woolley got the latest. In total, 21 different Raiders have recorded points with 17 goal-scorers.

BRIEFLY:
  • On the CCC leaderboard, freshman Noah Addie is tied for the top spot in goals scored in conference matches (7) while Gonzalo Garcia, Zac Hansen and Mitchell Pinney are tied for seventh in assists with three apiece. Addie also tops the CCC in game-winning goals (3).
  • Wyatt Zabinski has needed to make fewer saves than any keeper (19) to rank first in shutouts (7) and goals allowed per game (0.2).
  • The Raiders are 6-0-1 at home and 12-0-1 since the start of 2017. They didn't trail in any of those games and only allowed goals in two of them.
  • SOU ranks 12th in the NAIA in assists per game (2.5). Pinney and Hansen have five apiece overall.

ABOUT OREGON TECH:
  • SOU is 3-0 in its three matchups with the Owls and shut them out in the last two, including last year's 1-0 victory on Zac Hansen's header in the 60th minute.
  • OIT had won three straight until last weekend, when they lost 4-0 to Evergreen and tied Northwest, 2-2. Earlier this year, the Owls took Corban to overtime and played Rocky to a 1-0 loss.
  • Trinidad Flores (5 goals, 1 assists) and Lodewijk Bloemzaad (4 goals, 2 assists), both seniors, are the team's top threats for the second year in a row. In conference matches, they've scored 18 goals and given up 15.
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