RAIDER MEN'S SOCCER (6-1-0, 2-0-0)
12 p.m. Friday – vs. Corban (0-2-3, 0-0-1) | Stream | Stats | Tickets
12 p.m. Saturday – vs. Bushnell (4-0-2, 0-0-1) | Stream | Stats | Tickets

ASHLAND – With the best record in the Cascade Conference, the Southern Oregon men's soccer team is off to another promising start. With the most road games played in the conference, there is reason to believe it could get even better as the Raiders take their home field for the first time this week.

SOU (6-1-0 overall, 2-0-0 CCC) plays Corban (0-2-3, 0-0-1) on Friday and Bushnell (4-0-2, 0-0-1) on Saturday at Raider Stadium, starting both games at noon. The Raiders started circuit play with back-to-back shutout victories in Portland and now get to play seven of their final 11 regular season contests in Ashland, where they've gone 34-4-2 since the start of 2017.

NAIA TOP 25: The Raiders were the only CCC team receiving votes in Wednesday's latest NAIA coaches' poll, collecting 30 points to sit at No. 32 overall. Two weeks ago they broke in at No. 24, landing a spot among the Top 25 for the first time since 2019, but their lone loss at Menlo (Calif.) took them out. New polls will be released every week for the rest of the season.

LAST WEEK IN REVIEW: Friday's 2-0 win at back-to-back defending champion Warner Pacific gave SOU early pole position in the CCC title race. The Knights – picked in the preseason to win the title again – hadn't lost at home since 2019 before Adrian Villegas assisted Alan Gaytan in the 20th minute and Evan Norconk in the 47th to snap the streak. (WPU went on to lose another Saturday to Oregon Tech.) Villegas starred again in Saturday's 1-0 win at Multnomah, sending home the lone goal from outside the box in the 65th minute.

BRIEFLY:
SOU goalkeeper Casey Ruvolo was voted the CCC Defensive Player of the Week for securing both shutouts, making a career-high eight saves at WPU and six more at MU. The sophomore has played every minute in goal for the Raiders and made 36 saves while allowing seven goals for a save percentage of .837. He's turned in four clean sheets.
Adrian Villegas ranks second among all CCC players in points (11) with four goals and three assists. The senior has had goal involvements in five consecutive games and six of seven overall; he's already the only Raider to have goal involvements in six straight, having accomplished that feat in 2019. Villegas ranks second on SOU's all-time lists for both goals (24) and assists (16).
Alan Gaytan needs two more goals to become the first Raider ever to reach 30. The goal Friday at WPU was his first of the season and marked the eighth game-winner of his career.
Like Villegas, junior forward Evan Norconk is up to four goals. He'd tallied in three straight through last Friday's victory.
Davie Carmichael surpassed 100 collegiate head-coaching victories last week, bringing his total to 101 between four seasons at Lake Erie College (Ohio) and six at SOU. With the Raiders, his teams have gone 68-18-7 for a win percentage of .769.

ABOUT CORBAN: The Warriors have a new head coach in Corbin Sowers, who previously held the same title at NCAA Division II school Saint Mary's University of Minnesota. He took over a Corban team that finished top-four in the CCC standings each of the last nine seasons and was picked sixth in this year's preseason poll. The Warriors are off to a slow start by their standards, having already allowed four more goals this fall (13) than they did all of 2022. Irwin Leon leads the team with four goals, and Nate Sherwood had their score in a CCC-opening draw with Bushnell. The all-time series with SOU is tied 3-3-2, though the Raiders won the last two matchups and are unbeaten in the last four.  

ABOUT BUSHNELL: The Beacons qualify as the conference's biggest surprise so far, off to the best start in program history after being picked to finish 13th in the standings. They've scored 21 goals in six outings – Alejandro Munoz and Caleb Premo own four apiece – and have yet to be shut out. The Raiders are 9-0-1 head-to-head against Bushnell and won the last eight meetings by a combined score of 19-2.