Men's Soccer Heads into Two Game Week

LAKELAND, Fla.- After a 10 day break from competition, the Southeastern University men's soccer team will be back in action this week with two competitions beginning with an away contest against Florida College on Tuesday at 5 p.m. and will round out the week on their home field as they face off against the Knights of Middle Georgia State University on Friday at 7 p.m.
 
The Fire squad has strung together a solid first half of their season with a record of 5-1 and recently began receiving votes in the NAIA Top 25 Coaches' Poll. As a team, the Fire has found the back of the net 15 times through six games and averaged 2.5 goals per match with a .549 shot on goal percentage. Freshman Eduardo Venutolo has proven his worth to the team with a team high three goals with all three goals coming in a hat trick effort against Bryan College. Graduate student Colin Horn leads the group in assists with three. Defensively, Carlos Curado was recently named Sun Conference Defensive Player of the Week after recording a season high seven saves in the Fire's 2-1 victory over Life University which brought his season total to 10 saves through three games played. Jonathan Wojciki has also started in three matches in goal and has recorded a .750 save percentage with nine saves on 13 shots faced.
 
The Falcons of Florida College in Temple Terrace, Fla. are currently 3-5-1 and will be looking to snap a four-game losing streak with a victory over the Fire on Tuesday. The last meeting between these two teams came in the form of a thrilling double overtime matchup in the 2020 season where the Fire walked off the pitch with the 4-3 victory with the game winning goal coming off the foot of current Fire player, Aitor Granero, in the 104^th minute. The Fire has taken five of the six matches played on the Falcon's home field and will aim to advance their away record against Florida College to 6-1.
 
As a team, the Falcons have recorded 19 goals through nine games and average 2.1 goals per game and a .391 shot on goal percentage. Anton Richard has started in eight of the nine games in goal and currently ranks fifth in the nation in saves with 47 on 66 shots faced. Offensively, Krist Berisha and Rafael Magacho combine for over half of the Falcon's goals with Berisha recording six on eight shots on goal and Magacho netting five in seven shots on goal.
 
Friday will see the Fire back on their home pitch with a matchup against Middle Georgia State at 7 p.m. These two teams have a limited history with only two meetings including the most recent on February 10^th, 2021 where the Fire defeated the Knights on their home turf in Cochran, Ga. by a score of 3-2 with all three goals coming off the feet of current SEU players in Paulos Beraki, Ben-Avir Espinal, and Julian Hall. The Knights are looking to secure their first win of the season as they hold to a 0-5 record and a .400 shot on goal percentage. Callum Bryan leads the Knights with two goals scored.
 
Tickets for Friday's home game can be purchased at southeastern.universitytickets.com.