BILLINGS, Mont. – Montana State University Billings men's soccer kicks off the sixth annual Rimrock Classic presented by Granite Health and Fitness in memory of Trevor Wildberger Friday at Yellowjacket Soccer Field. MSUB will face Humboldt State University September 13 at 3 p.m. followed by South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Sunday, September 15 at 4 p.m. The tournament serves as the regular season home opener for a 'Jacket squad which has gone 0-1-1 on the road this fall.
 
Last Time Out: The Yellowjackets made waves on Saturday when they tied No. 2 Cal Poly Pomona after two overtime periods in Burnaby, British Columbia at Terry Fox Field. Shantik Bedrosian scored his first goal of the season in the 18^th minute and Jessy Martin made 11 saves, the most by a Yellowjacket goalkeeper in a single game in over 10 years. Cal Poly Pomona's Jordan Jackmon tied the contest in the 26^th minute and the score remained knotted up the rest of the way.
 
After the match, head coach Thomas Chameraud praised his team.
 
"We knew it was going to be a tough game against a very good team today, but we also showed we had the quality to create problems against one of the best teams in the country," Chameraud said. "Our plan worked out really well and we were very happy for Shantik to score his first goal of the season."
 
The Yellowjackets (0-1-1) are coming off a 7-10-2 season in which they lost multiple matches in the final five minutes of regulation or overtime. They received good goalkeeping from freshman Jessy Martin against Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State San Bernardino. Bedrosian was the only player to score a goal in the first two games, but Noah Runsvold leads the team with five shots and Christian Thode has marked four.
 
Last season, the Yellowjackets defeated Colorado Christian University 6-0 in the first game of the Rimrock Classic, but tied Sonoma State 1-1. MSUB is led by junior captain Luca Battistotti, who is a two-time honorable mention all-conference selection. The San Rocco al Porto, Italy, native helped lead MSUB's defensive unit last year, starting all 19 matches with 1,716 minutes played.
 
Samuele Folla is another key returning piece in the center of the pitch. In his first season at MSUB, Folla started 18 matches and ranked third on the team among field players with 1,651 minutes of playing time. Fellow senior Liam Knox saw time in 15 games on the back line in 2018, and sophomores Pascal Pisarek and Bryan Maxwell are also likely to be depended upon as key contributors.
 
A new player to watch is junior transfer Andrew Rivera, who was an all-region selection at Yavapai College last year. Freshman Yaniss Aka, of Dijon France and Kolbein Moore of Yakima, Washington will also see minutes on defense.
 
Tickets for all Yellowjacket home matches are $5 for the general public, $3 for seniors (ages 65 and up), and students in grades 7-12, and free admission for all MSUB students and faculty, and students in grades 6 and under.
 
All home matches and select road contests will feature live video and live statistics, available online through MSUB's Stretch Internet portal here.
 
Scouting Humboldt State University
Friday, September 13 – 3 p.m. Mountain – Yellowjacket Field – Billings, Montana
2019 Record: 1-1-0, 0-0-0 CCAA, 0-0 home, 1-0 away, 0-1 neutral
2018 Record: 7-8-2, 3-7-2 CCAA, 6-3-1 home, 1-5-1 away, 0-0-0 neutral
Head Coach: Fred Jungemann (7^th season)
 
The Lumberjacks return three all-conference honorees in 2019 including Gus Baxter, Ethan Waters, and Martin Calderon. Baxter scored seven goals and tallied three assists and Waters earned 10 starts and 13 appearances at midfield. Calderon started all 17 games and one assist with 1570 total minutes played.
 
Humboldt State allowed 1.65 goals against per game last season while the offense produced 1.47 goals per game. Isaiah Dairo is another returner who scored four goals including a pair of game winners as a junior.
 
Scouting South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
Sunday, September 15 – 4 p.m. Mountain – Yellowjacket Field – Billings, Montana
2019 Record: 1-1-0, 0-0-0 RMAC, 1-1 home, 0-0 away, 0-0 neutral
2018 record: 2-13-3, 1-10-3 RMAC, 2-5-1 home, 0-6-2 away, 0-2-0 neutral
Head Coach: Ryan Thompson (1^st season)
 
The Hardrockers split a pair of 2-1 matches with a win against University of Mary and a loss to Texas A&M International University in the Hardrocker Soccer Tournament. With new head coach Ryan Thompson at the helm, SDSMT looks to be more competitive in 2019. Owen Winger returns at midfield and was named to the RMAC pre-season players to watch list. In 2018, South Dakota Mines managed 0.83 goals per game and allowed 1.83 goals to its opponents.
 
The team did do a good job of generating shots with a 9.6 shot average per contest. The Yellowjackets last played the Hardrockers in a 2018 pre-season scrimmage. On senior day in 2017, MSUB won the matchup 4-3 at Yellowjacket Field. Current MSUB forward Bedrosian was a freshman and picked up a yellow card in the game.