No. 22 RAIDER MEN'S SOCCER (3-2)
2:30 p.m. Friday – vs. Multnomah (2-2) | Live Stats
1:30 p.m. Sunday – vs. Warner Pacific (4-1) | Live Stats
LIVE STREAMS | TICKETS

ASHLAND – The Southern Oregon men's soccer team has had one month to break in a new-look lineup and found the task of replacing six all-stars to be as challenging as expected through mixed results in nonleague play. Ready or not, the No. 22-ranked Raiders begin their Cascade Conference championship defense this weekend.

SOU (3-2) is at Raider Stadium to play at 2:30 p.m. Friday against Multnomah (2-2) and 1:30 p.m. Sunday against Warner Pacific (4-1), which received votes in last week's latest NAIA Top 25 poll. The highs have been as high as the lows have been low to this point for the Raiders: While they outscored opponents 11-1 combined in three wins, they were also shut out at home in one loss and held without a shot on goal in the other.

IN THE POLLS: The Raiders enter CCC play as the favorites to win the title after going 12-1 in the circuit last year. They received eight of 14 first-place votes in the preseason poll, while College of Idaho collected five and Warner Pacific got the other. SOU opened at No. 25 in the NAIA Top 25 poll and has since moved up to No. 22. A new edition will be released next Wednesday.

BRIEFLY:

• Since Davie Carmichael became head coach in 2018, the Raiders are 32-3-2 at home in CCC play. Overall during that span in conference games, they've outscored opponents 182-45.
• Mustafa Daggig has scored two goals in all three of SOU's wins and already tied the team record for most multiple-goal games in a season. The sophomore owns 10 goals and two assists in 24 career outings.
• Eight of SOU's 11 goals have been assisted. Newcomer Kaito Nakayama leads the team with two assists. He and sophomore Daniel Palomino are the only Raiders who have started all five games.
• Goalkeeper Casey Ruvolo, the reigning CCC Defensive Player of the Year, made 36 saves and allowed three goals during conference play last year. He enters this fall's conference schedule with 11 saves and five goals allowed.
• Senior forward Evan Norconk comes into the weekend with 20 career goals, including one this season. He is the sixth 20-goal scorer in team history.

ABOUT MULTNOMAH: The Lions were picked 11th in the CCC preseason poll after going 5-7-1 to finish ninth last year. They played three NCAA Division III schools and Pacific Union in the preseason, and the most notable development was a pair of hat tricks from senior Paul Einero in the wins. Einero has recorded twice as many shots (15) and shots on goal (8) as any other Lion. SOU is 8-0 in the all-time series against Multnomah and came away with a 1-0 victory last year in Portland.

ABOUT WARNER PACIFIC: The recent SOU-WPU rivalry has been as competitive as any in the conference; though the Raiders are 6-3-2 in the series, they've won two, lost two and tied two over the last six meetings. The Knights won their first four games of the season before falling 3-1 on Sunday at Pacific Lutheran. From their 9-2-2 team that tied for second in the standings last year, they returned All-CCC performers in forward Bryce McCole, midfielder Chanin Orlandin and defender Brendon Leach. McCole recorded 14 goals and seven assists in 2023, and Orlandin currently leads the team with three goals and three assists. SOU took last year's matchup, 2-0.