11 a.m. Friday – Oregon Tech (6-0) at SOU (6-0)
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ASHLAND – The Southern Oregon and Oregon Tech men's soccer teams have fueled their Cascade Conference championship aspirations with perfect starts to the season. On Friday at Raider Stadium, they'll fuel their rivalry by putting 6-0 records on the line.

The Raiders (6-0, 2-0 CCC) and Owls (6-0, 2-0 CCC) are set for an 11 a.m. start. They're coming off matching wins last week over Evergreen (Wash.) and Northwest (Wash.) that were all decided by one goal. Only once previously, in 2016, have both teams entered the matchup with winning records.

NAIA TOP 25: For the first time since the 2019 preseason, the Raiders received votes in Wednesday's latest edition of the NAIA Top 25 coaches' poll. They collected 18 voter points, tied for the 31st-most overall. Corban – which also opened its CCC schedule with back-to-back wins – is the conference's only ranked team at No. 23, while Rocky Mountain (Mont.) received three voter points. The next poll will be released on Oct. 6, after the Raiders face Rocky and Providence (Mont.) in Montana. They were No. 13 in the 2019 preseason after ending the '18 season in the same spot.

LAST WEEK IN REVIEW: In last Friday's 4-3 win over Evergreen, the Raiders squandered an early two-goal lead by surrendering three straight, but trailed for less than a minute and got the game-winner from Alan Gaytan on a penalty kick in the 74th. It was the first time since 2015 that the Raiders had given up three goals at home, but Gaytan scored twice and defender Zak Woolley had a goal and an assist to neutralize the threat. A day later, they defeated Northwest 2-1 and scored the game-winner on another PK as Joao de Santos converted in the 76th minute. They'd fallen behind three minutes into the contest, but Adrian Villegas leveled the score in the 12th and NU played a man down for the final 40 minutes.

FAN POLICY: All fans 12 and older planning to attend are subject to SOU's new vaccination policy, which requires proof of full vaccination against Covid-19 or a negative test taken no more than 48 hours prior to entry. Photo ID must be presented for verification. Per state mandate, non-participants will also be required to wear masks regardless of vaccination status.

BRIEFLY:

• Alan Gaytan's streak of consecutive games with a goal ended Saturday at four, though he drew the foul that resulted in the game-winning PK. He became the second Raider with such a streak, matching Carlos Magana's 2016 effort, and currently ranks second among all CCC players with five goals. With 14 career goals, he's one behind teammate Noah Addie and ranks fifth in SOU history.
• Adrian Villegas' three-point weekend brought his career total to 36 (12 goals, 12 assists) over 30 games. He's eight away from the Raider record.
• The Raiders have scored nine goals in three home games, and four have been on penalty kicks. They've converted nine consecutive PKs dating back to 2019.
• SOU has outscored its opponents 16-6 and doubled them up on shots (100-50) and shots on goal (48-24).
• Since the start of 2017, the Raiders are 23-1-1 in home conference games with 19 shutouts during that stretch. They'd allowed 3 goals total in their previous 23 before giving up 4 in their last two.
• The Raiders are unbeaten in 37 consecutive games in which they've tallied multiple goals, winning 35 of them. Dating back to 2019, they've scored at least two goals in 20 of their last 21 outings.

ABOUT OREGON TECH: Picked to finish fifth in the CCC after going 5-3 last spring, the Owls have outscored their opponents 22-2 during their hot start and top the CCC leaderboard with averages of 23 shots and 3.7 goals generated per game. Casey Tate, their second-year head coach, has gotten goals from 10 individuals, led by Arthur Proost (5 goals, 1 assist), Jake Mitchell (4 goals, 1 assist) and John Sarna (2 goals, 5 assists). SOU is 5-1 all-time against OIT but dropped the most recent matchup 1-0 on Sept. 21, 2019, when Sarna scored the golden goal with one minute left in overtime.