BILLINGS, Mont. – With three games left in the regular season, the Montana State University Billings men's soccer team will see the team right in front of them in the standings as well as the one right behind this week. The 'Jackets visit Simon Fraser University Thursday, November 7 at 8:30 p.m., followed by No. 19 Western Washington Saturday, November 9 at 7 p.m. Both games can be watch via live stream using links on the MSUB men's soccer schedule page.
 
The Yellowjackets (8-6-1, 5-3-1 GNAC) have 16 points and are alone in second place, six points shy of Western Washington and three points clear of Simon Fraser, though the Clan has one game-in-hand. With the absence of a Great Northwest Athletic Conference tournament, the 'Jackets likely need to win the regular season title to advance to the NCAA Division II regional tournament.
 
"We know it's going to be two very difficult games this week," said MSUB head coach Thomas Chameraud. "We've never won at Simon Fraser so we know we would be making history with a win. I did not feel either of those teams outplayed us in Billings earlier this season so we have a lot of hope that if we execute our game plan, we can win. If we do what we do best, which is working hard on the ball and being a blue-collar team that is solid defensively, we will get our chances on the road. We had a setback last week against Saint Martin's so it's important for us to have a bounce back this week."
 
LAST TIME OUT: MSU Billings split two games in Billings last weekend. Thursday night, Andres Perez scored the winning goal in a 1-0 clean sheet against Concordia University. Saturday, the Yellowjackets allowed two late goals and lost 2-1 to Saint Martin's in overtime. Perez scored his sixth goal of the season in the 26^th minute but MSUB allowed goals to conference leading scorer Brandon Madsen in the 86^th and 99^th minute of the contest.
 
LEADING SCORERS: Andres Perez leads the Yellowjackets with 17 points (six goals, five assists). Perez ranks sixth in the GNAC in points, seventh in goals, and tied for fourth in assists. Shantik Bedrosian ranks second on the squad with 11 points (three goals, five assists). Ignacio Crespo has eight points and three game-winning goals (tied for third in the GNAC).

2019 Men's Soccer Great Northwest Athletic Conference Standings (as of 11-6-19)

Team	CONF	PTS	Overall	PCT	Home	Away	Neutral	Streak
#19 Western Washington	7-0-1	22	10-3-1	.750	4-2-1	6-1-0	0-0-0	Won 6
Montana State Billings	5-3-1	16	8-6-2	.563	4-3-1	4-1-0	0-2-1	Lost 1
Simon Fraser	4-3-1	13	7-4-1	.625	2-4-0	4-0-1	1-0-0	Lost 2
Concordia	4-5-0	12	7-7-0	.500	5-1-0	2-6-0	0-0-0	Lost 2
Saint Martin's	3-5-1	10	8-6-2	.563	5-4-1	3-2-1	0-0-0	Won 1
Seattle Pacific	3-6-0	9	4-9-1	.321	2-5-1	2-4-0	0-0-0	Won 1
Northwest Nazarene	2-6-0	6	6-8-0	.429	3-4-0	3-4-0	0-0-0	Won 2

 
Scouting Simon Fraser University
Thursday, November 7 – 8:30 p.m. – Terry Fox Field – Burnaby, British Columbia
2019 Record: 7-4-1, 4-3-1 GNAC, 2-4-0 home, 4-0-1 away, 1-0-0 neutral
2018 record: 17-2-0, 11-1-0 GNAC, 6-0-0 home, 10-1-0 away, 1-1-0 neutral
Head Coach: Clint Schneider (4^th season)
 
The Clan lost two games in a row for the first time this season with 2-1 defeats to Western Washington and Seattle Pacific last week at home. SFU outshot the Falcons 10-4 on Saturday but their only goal came from Bjorn Borren in the third minute of the contest.
 
The Clan suffered from a large graduation rate among their 2018 senior class. This year, Matteo Polisi leads the team with 19 points, eight goals, and three assists on 41 shots. William Raphael has 11 points in 10 starts with four goals and three assists.
 
Aiden Bain has started all 12 games in goal. In 1,115 minutes on the pitch, Bain has 27 saves and a 1.05 goals against average. Bain has also recorded three shutouts and has a .675 save percentage.
 
The Yellowjackets tied the Clan 0-0 in Billings on October 19. SFU outshot MSUB 14-4 (7-3 on goal). Last season MSUB fell 4-0 and 2-0 to then No. 1 Simon Fraser in the season series.
 
"It is going to be a competitive game at Simon Fraser," Chameraud said. "They have a very talented team with some very good individual players. We will have to be up for it, that's for sure."
 
Scouting No. 19 Western Washington University
Saturday, October 26 – 3 p.m. – Yellowjacket Field – Billings, Montana
2019 Record: 7-5-2, 2-4-1 GNAC, 5-4-1 home, 2-1-1 away, 0-0-0 neutral
2018 record: 9-9-0, 7-5-0 GNAC, 4-3-0 home, 5-4-0 away, 0-2-0 neutral
Head Coach: Rob Walker (13^th season)
 
Beating 19^th ranked Western Washington on the road will be no easy task. The Vikings have scored 28 goals and allowed just 13 to their opponents. WWU ranks second in goals, tied for first in goals allowed, second in shutouts, first in corner kicks, and last in yellow cards within the GNAC.
 
In a matchup between the teams on October 24, Western Washington slipped past MSUB 2-1 after jumping out to a 2-0 lead early in the second half," Chameraud said. "Bryan Maxwell scored for MSUB in the 74^th minute with assists from Luca Battistotti and Shantik Bedrosian. The Vikings outshot MSUB 10-7 with six shots on goal.
 
Western Washington enters the week unbeaten in their previous nine outings (8-1-0) with recent wins over Simon Fraser (W, 2-1) and Seattle Pacific (W, 4-0). Ryan Shaefer hold the team's top mark for goals with seven to add to a 15-point total. Georg Cholewa has 14 points on four goals and six assists for WWU.
 
Brandon Locke and Brandon Wolter have split goalkeeping duties so far. Locke is up to eight starts and a 7-0-1 record while Wolter checks in at six starts and a record of 3-3-0. Both have been effective for the Vikings. Locke has 28 saves with four goals surrendered. He also holds a .875 save percentage and 0.46 goals against average.
 
"Western Washington is a very solid team," said Chameraud. "Like us, they do not concede too many goals and have two tall center backs, which helps them. They are also very dangerous on set pieces. We learned the hard way at home when we conceded two goals on set pieces. We know we have to be better in that area to stay strong and not allow goals. We created chances against them so we have some confidence going over there. I don't think our team will be intimidated because WWU has a National ranking."