BILLINGS, Mont. – After a strong first half but disappointing finish, the Montana State University Billings men's soccer team wound up one win better than a year ago in both the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and overall in 2019. The Yellowjackets were in contention for the post-season until the final weekend of the fall and finished fourth in the GNAC with 16 points and an 8-9-2 record overall.
 
"It's better than last year and we saw definite improvement," commented MSUB first year head coach Thomas Chameraud. "With the new formations that we needed to teach the guys, we knew they had to learn quickly. Then when you look at eight wins and three overtime losses, you could say we were right there, but at the same time, it was disappointing to finish the way we did. Overall, I would say it was a good season for us."
 
The 'Jackets began the year with a trip to British Columbia, where they suffered a 1-0 loss to California State San, Bernardino, then tied No. 2 ranked Cal Poly Pomona 1-1 in the SFU Showdown tournament. The team hosted the sixth annual Rimrock Classic in memory of Trevor Wildberger at Yellowjacket Field and split against Humboldt State and South Dakota Mines, before falling to No. 13 Eastern New Mexico in Bismarck 3-0.
 
One of the strongest stretches followed the uneven start, and MSUB won three straight games, including 2-1 in overtime over University of Mary at home and a 1-0 win to open conference play at Northwest Nazarene. MSU Billings was set back in the form of a 4-1 loss to Concordia University, but they rebounded to beat Saint Martin's and Seattle Pacific. The Yellowjackets then posted a gritty performance against Simon Fraser at home and tied the Clan 0-0 after 110 scoreless minutes.
 
"If you said before the season that we were going to tie SFU at home, we would have taken it," Chameraud said after the SFU game. "We had a good first half and tried to find solutions between the lines. In the second half, it was really a tactical battle."
 
The Yellowjackets owned second place in the GNAC standings with four games to play but suffered a 2-1 overtime loss to Saint Martin's at home that broke their momentum. The season ended with three more losses on the road to challenging opponents Simon Fraser, No. 19 Western Washington, and Seattle Pacific.
 
Sophomore Andres Perez made the most of his time on the pitch with a team leading 17 points (six goals, five assists). Junior Shantik Bedrosian started 17 games and finished with four goals and five assists for 13 points. Bedrosian also contributed 19 shots on goal and one game-winning goal.
 
 
Senior Ignacio Crespo had his best season as a Yellowjacket and recorded a team high three game winning goals and eight total points. Crespo appeared in 14 games with eight starts and 695 minutes. The team received point contributions from 12 players, including seniors Liam Knox, and Christian Thode, who had three goals.
 
The biggest impact on improvement in 2019 came on the defensive side of the field. In 2018, MSUB conceded 38 goals to opponents. This fall, the number dropped to 24. Freshman goalkeeper Jessy Martin had a solid first season and earned GNAC freshman of the year after five shutout performances. Martin started all 19 games and made a conference high 85 saves for a 1.22 goals against average and .780 save percentage.
 
 
"I think Jessy has a chance to be the best goalkeeper we've ever had at MSUB," Chameraud said. "He had a good first season and we were really happy with him. There are still some areas where we think he can improve and this spring we are going to work with him so he can do even better next year."
 
The 'Jackets also allowed teams to generate fewer shots against, due in large part to a trio of experienced veterans on the back line. Defenders Luca Battistotti, Andrew Rivera, and Samuele Folla were the anchors of the defensive effort and Battistotti led all position players with 1,715 total minutes.
 
 
For the first time in MSUB men's soccer history, three players were named first team all-conference including Martin, Folla, and Battisotti. Bedrosian took home second team honors while Perez, along with newcomers Cole Hage and Yaniss Aka were honorable mention selections.
 
Off the field, MSUB was successful academically as seven players received academic all-conference recognition, two more than in 2018. Sophomore Brady Tesch held a team best 3.68 grade point average in health and human performance. Tesch appeared in 10 games with two starts and recorded one assist.
 
Martin made the biggest on-field impact of the 2019 freshman class, though several contributed meaningful minutes. Aka (Dijon, France) led all defenders with seven points (one goal, five assists) and played in 17 contests including 15 starts. Hage's impressive speed showed in his 17 starts as a true freshman as he collected nine shot attempts in 1,583 minutes of playing time.
 
MSUB will look forward to playing its spring exhibition schedule, then will prepare for the upcoming 2020 regular season next August. The Yellowjackets will graduate three seniors this spring.