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BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State University Billings Men's Soccer team grabbed their first win of the season Thursday in a 4-2 win over South Dakota School of Mines at Yellowjacket field.

The Jackets improve to 1-6-2 overall and 1-3-1 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. With the loss, the Hardrockers drop to 0-8 overall and 0-5 in GNAC play.

"Very, Very important win for us today and will be good for the confidence of the guys," said coach Alex Balog. "We want to carry this momentum into saturday and this win today will hopefully get our season going."

The Jackets were led by Haley Klarich's two goals, the first coming in the 30th minute after a corner kick from Aodhan Brownlee bounced around in front of the net until Klarich punished the ball into the back of the net from five yards out beating the Hardrocker's goalie Timothy Tribbett for his second goal of the season. Klarich's third goal of the year came in the 50th minute after a beautiful cross from Landon Horst went into the left side of the box and Klarich finished with a gorgeous volley into the right side of the net.

"I was just in the right spot in the right time," said Klarich, "It's a long time coming for us, we have worked hard all season and it's about time we came out on top."

Not to be undone, the Hardrockers countered back with two goals of their own. The first was off the foot of Gabe Dahmke during a scramble in front of the net in the 53rd minute with the assist from Andreas Skau. The equalizer came when Max McGrath scored on a cross from Nathan Fricke in the 67th minute.

MSUB came right back flying down the field and the attack led to a hand ball from SDSM in the box resulting in a penalty kick for the Jackets. Micheal Aringer lined up the ball on the penalty and drilled it into the upper right of the goal to give the Yellowjackets a 3-2 lead on his first goal of the season.

The finishing blow came from Sam Butterworth in the 81st minute. Butterworth dribbled the ball down the left side of the box, spun around once with the ball and bended a beautiful ball into the upper right side of the goal for his second score of the season.

The Yellowjackets outshot the Hardrockers, 14-4, and had more shots on goal with a 5-3 advantage. MSUB also had the upper hand in corner kicks, 4-2. The win was also the first win the collegiate coaching career of coach Alex Balog.

The Jackets return to action Saturday at 1:30 p.m. versus the University of Mary at Yellowjacket Field. Live video and stats for the match can be found on MSUBSports.com.