Box Score
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BILLINGS, Mont. – The Saint Martin's Saints men's soccer team spoiled the Ninth Annual Futbol Frenzy festivities at Montana State Billings, 2-1 Saturday at Yellowjacket Field. With the loss, the Yellowjackets fell to 5-4-1 on the year and 1-3 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. SMU improved to 5-4 on the year and 2-1 in conference play.
“It was a difficult loss for us today, Saint Martin's punished our mistakes and they took their chances very well,” MSUB head coach Dan McNally said. “We have had a difficult 48 hours. I think we have played below our best in both games this weekend and it is really frustrating for all of us.”
Prior to the game, the Yellowjackets had a BBQ and Wendy's sponsored chili for the Ninth Annual Futbol Frenzy doubleheader. The MSUB women and the SMU women's teams kicked off after the men's game.
MSUB senior captain, Chris Andre, led the way with six shots and three on goal with the lone score for the Jackets. Junior Garion Holian had four shots with three on goal, while sophomore Clifton Thomas had two shots with one on goal.
SMU was led by Vlad Voin who had five shots and two on goal. Ruben Orozco tallied two assists, while Austin Kelley and Xan Nixon scored on both of their shot attempts. Brandon Scott also added an assist.
The Saints opened the scoring just 5:49 into the contest. Nixon took a pass from Orozco from midfield and fired a shot past MSUB senior goalkeeper Matt Mitchell for a 1-0 lead. It was Nixon's third goal of the year.
SMU held a 1-0 lead at halftime as MSUB led the way in shots with an 8-6 count in the first half. SMU had three first half corner kicks to one for MSUB. SMU goalkeeper Zac Lubin made three first half saves.
Three minutes into the second half, the Yellowjackets had two good looks at the equalizer as Thomas and Holian each had good shots, but Lubin came up with the saves both times to preserve the shutout.
The Saints scored the insurance goal and what turned out to be the game winner, in the 59th minute as Kelley took a flick from Brandon Scott and a touch from Orozco off a throw in and scored his first goal of the season.
Later in the half, the Yellowjackets began showing signs of life and had a great run with 2:36 left in the match as Andre turned on a shot from the top of the box for a score and cut the deficit in half. It was Andre's team-leading sixth goal of the year.
With just over a minute left, the Yellowjackets had another run as Lubin came out to challenge a Thomas shot and was able to redirect the ball wide to the left post. Senior Kyle Moriarty tried to collect it, but it was too wide of the goal for a good look resulting in a goal kick.
The Saints were able to run out the final minute for the win.
“Now we have a full week before we play Northwest Nazarene and it will give us a chance to practice and correct some of our mistakes,” McNally added. “We have young players who are making very basic errors and are being punished every time. We have to work hard this week to make sure that when we play NNU next weekend we give a good account of ourselves.”
MSUB returns to action a week from today at Northwest Nazarene to begin a four-game road swing. The Yellowjackets return home for the final four games of the regular season, beginning Oct. 28 at 12:30 p.m. versus Western Washington at Yellowjacket Field.
