No. 24 RAIDER MEN'S SOCCER (6-2-1, 3-0-1 CCC)
2:30 p.m. Friday – vs. Eastern Oregon (4-1-1, 3-0-1) | Live Stats
2:30 p.m. Saturday – vs. College of Idaho (5-1-1, 3-1-0) | Live Stats
TICKETS | LIVE STREAMS

ASHLAND – Two more teams off to fast starts will join No. 24-ranked Southern Oregon at Raider Stadium for what promises to be a telling weekend in the Cascade Conference men's soccer circuit.

SOU (6-2-1 overall, 3-0-1 CCC) hosts Eastern Oregon (4-1-1, 3-0-1) on Friday and College of Idaho (5-1-1, 3-1-0) on Saturday, kicking off both games at approximately 2:30 p.m. The teams make up the two-through-four spots on the table, all chasing 4-0 Carroll (Mont.) for now.

LAST WEEK IN REVIEW: The Raiders' defense was nearly flawless in their first CCC road trip, making the four points they came away with a slightly lighter haul than expected. SOU didn't concede a shot on goal all weekend and took advantage Friday at Bushnell with a 3-0 win that featured goals from Mustafa Daggig, Franco Fasoli and Ariel De Dios Cruz. On Saturday at Corban, the Raiders settled for a 0-0 draw in a physical affair that yielded 44 fouls and 11 yellow cards (including seven on the Warriors). The Raiders outshot Corban 15-5, putting five of their attempts on goal, but the Warriors got a result against them for the first time since 2019.

BRIEFLY:

• The Raiders have the CCC's leading goal-scorer in Mustafa Daggig and the leading assist man in Kaito Nakayama. Daggig owns eight goals, tallying each of them in victories, and is already threatening to become the seventh player in team history to reach 10 in a season. The sophomore is tied for 18th on the NAIA leaderboard. Nakayama, a junior from Japan, is up to five assists with three in SOU's last four games. The Raiders are 5-0 when he registers a point.
• SOU has held back-to-back opponents – and three of its last four – without a shot on goal for the first time in team history. In the program's 171 all-time games that preceded this stretch, there were only eight instances of opponents not getting a shot on target. The Raiders are already up to five shutouts and have required their keepers to make fewer saves per game (1.7) than any other CCC team.
• Since Davie Carmichael became head coach in 2018, the Raiders are 34-3-2 at home in CCC play.
• Evan Norconk is sitting at No. 4 on SOU's career goals list with 21. With one more, he'll break into the top-three.

NAIA TOP 25: The Raiders were No. 24 in last week's latest NAIA Top 25 ratings, down two spots from their previous post. Two more CCC teams are receiving votes: Warner Pacific at No. 37 overall and College of Idaho at No. 38. WPU, off to a 1-3 start in conference play, is likely to drop out when a new poll is released next week, and the Raiders' draw at Corban has their Top 25 standing in peril pending this weekend's results.

ABOUT EASTERN OREGON: SOU is 8-0-1 in the overall series against EOU. Not only do the Mountaineers remain winless against the Raiders – they got their only result in a 2019 CCC Tournament draw – but they have been shut out in all eight of their losses. After missing the postseason last year, they're off to a more hopeful start this fall and have already eclipsed their 2023 win total. Four different players have contributed three goals apiece – Milton Hernandez, Daniel Kropf, Angel Sandoval and Jesus Alvarez – and they have only surrendered three with an .864 team save percentage.

ABOUT COLLEGE OF IDAHO: The Yotes were the only CCC team to defeat SOU last season, winning a 1-0 regular-season matchup in Caldwell and a 1-0 CCC Tournament championship decision in Springfield. The Raiders are 7-4 in the all-time series but have dropped three of the last four games. They'll have their work cut out for them against a C of I team that has scored at least three goals in five consecutive outings, led in the attack by Eric Hornung (6 goals, 1 assist) and Jorge Fernandez (4 goals, 2 assists). Fernandez was selected to the All-CCC first team last year after tallying 14 goals, while Hornung scored the game-winner in the championship against SOU.