Men's Soccer | 9/30/2020 8:00:00 AM
LAKELAND, Fla.—After splitting two games against Sun Conference opponents a week ago, the Southeastern University men's soccer team prepares for two more matchups with conference members St. Thomas and Ave Maria. The Fire (4-1, 2-1 TSC) hit the road to face St. Thomas on Wednesday, September 30
th at 7:00 pm before hosting Ave Maria on Saturday, October 3
rd at 1:00 pm.
Last week the Fire took a tough 6-2 loss on the road against Keiser before getting their fourth win of the season in the 3-1 victory over the Warner Royals.
Transfer
Colin Horn tallied his first two goals in a Fire uniform against Keiser with two late goals in the 81
st minute of play. In the second game of the week,
Lucas Nishioka,
Skylar Funk, and
Paulos Beraki each tallied their second goal of the season against Warner.
Southeastern is currently ranked seventh in the NAIA with 16 goals and 12
th with eleven assists. Individually,
Joshua Ruckdeschel ranks eight in the nation with three assists while
Julian Hall places 23
rd with three goals. Goalkeeper
Carlos Curado is tied for third in the Sun Conference with ten saves at this point in the season.
St. Thomas enters play this week with a 3-1 overall record, going 3-0 against TSC opponents. The Bobcats have not allowed a goal in 283 minutes of play since their season-opening loss to Florida National. Players to watch for St. Thomas are Felipe Madero, Joaquin Domber, and Franco Acerbi. Madero and Domber lead the Bobcats with two goals and two assists, respectively. Acerbi is the Bobcat goalkeeper that has held Sun Conference opponents at bay with three saves.
The Fire will look to even the all-time series as St. Thomas has the advantage 2-1 in three matchups between these programs. Southeastern notched their first win against the Bobcats in last season's 2-0 win. Ruckdeschel tallied an assist on one of the goals in the win.
Southeastern returns home on Saturday to host an Ave Maria team that enters play this week with an even 2-2 overall record and have gone 1-1 when facing conference opponents. The Gyrenes create their goals off of assists as all seven of their goals have come off assists and they rank 18
th in the NAIA in assists. Senior Raphael Rodriguez is a catalyst for Ave Maria as he leads the team with three assists.
Southeastern is looking to start a new winning-streak against the Gyrenes as last year's loss snapped a 10-game winning streak. That loss is the only one in the all-time series with the Fire taking 10-of-11 all-time matchups.
For all the latest on Fire men's soccer follow @SEUFireMSoccer on Twitter!
