BILLINGS, Mont. – After a two-week hiatus, the Montana State University Billings men's soccer team returns to the pitch Saturday to kick off the second half of Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.
 
The Yellowjackets (3-7-1, 1-4 GNAC) host No. 14 Seattle Pacific University (10-2, 4-1) with a 2:30 p.m. kickoff scheduled in the team's lone game of the week. Saturday's match will be the second game of a doubleheader with the MSUB women's soccer team, which hosts Saint Martin's University at noon. Live video for the men's match will be available online here and live statistics will be available online here.
 
Saturday's match kicks off a three-game home stand, as MSUB has its final three matches at Yellowjacket Field over the next two weeks. The 'Jackets host Western Washington on Nov. 4 and Simon Fraser in the home finale on Nov. 6. The 'Jackets enter the week tied for fifth place in the GNAC standings with three points, while Seattle Pacific is at the top of the table with 12 points through the first five league games of the year. "Having a week off is a lot of time to rest, and now we come back ready to play," said junior defender Bryan Maxwell. "It is going to be a good stretch. Preseason we were on the road the whole time, so having three home games in-a-row is going to be really fun."
 
MSUB was last in action on Oct. 14, falling 1-0 at Simon Fraser, and Oct. 16, falling 3-1 at Western Washington. "It has been two weeks since our last game, so we are excited to host SPU here," said MSUB head coach Thomas Chameraud. "We have been working the last two weeks on what we needed to fix compared to the last two results at Western and SFU. We are playing well, we have just had a hard time finishing our chances and managing to hold clean sheets."
 
The Yellowjackets will enter Saturday's match with somewhat of a chip on their shoulder, after falling to the Falcons 4-3 in overtime when the teams first met on Oct. 2 in Seattle. It was a game that the Yellowjackets led three different times, but the Falcons rallied for three equalizers and an overtime winner. "We have been building on that feeling and belief that we can beat anyone in the country," Chameraud commented on the overtime loss to then-No. 16 SPU. "We showed on the field at their place we can compete against the best teams in the country. We had a couple of chances to go two goals up, but we didn't put them away. We look forward to having them on our field here to compete on Saturday."
 
"It was disappointing because we were up three times, but they got the last goal," Maxwell said. "Hopefully we can go up early again and just keep the lead."
 
YILMAZ A GOOD HISTORY AGAINST SPU: Junior striker Halil Yilmaz, who enters the second half of league play ranked second in the conference with nine goals, scored three of them in the first meeting against the Falcons. Yilmaz's hat trick in the conference opener was his second of the season, as he put MSUB ahead of SPU on three different occasions.
 
Overall this season Yilmaz has three multi-goal games and one assist as well for 19 total points. He has placed 22 of 42 shots on target, resulting in a shots-on-goal percentage of 52.4. Yilmaz and senior Brad Lowes are the lone Yellowjackets to have started all 11 matches this fall.
 
FOGT NETS 1ST COLLEGIATE GOAL: Sophomore midfielder Valdemar Fogt contributed the first goal of his collegiate career last week, finding the net in MSUB's defeat at Western Washington. Fogt has played in 7 of 11 matches, earning two starts along the way and placing five of his 12 shots on target.
 
BATTISTOTTI INTO TOP-10 IN GAMES PLAYED: Senior captain Luca Battistotti is tied for ninth in program history with 68 career matches played, starting all but two of MSUB's games dating back to the 2017 fall season. Battistotti is averaging 90.5 minutes per game this year, starting 10 of 11 on the defensive unit.
 
MSUB Men's Soccer Career Games Played Leaders (as of Oct. 29, 2021)

Rank	Player	Games	Career
1	Greg McKeever	72	2004-07
	Chris Andre	72	2007-10
3	Brian Huskey	71	2005-08
4	Sam Charles	70	2006-09
	Cameron Lee	70	2012-15
6	Jess Spann	69	2002-05
	Joshua Hernandez	69	2004-07
	Kyle Emerick	69	2011-14
9	Dave Austin	68	1997-01
	Luca Battistotti	68	2017-21

 

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No. 14 Seattle Pacific University Falcons
Saturday, October 30 – 2:30 PM – Yellowjacket Field – Billings, Montana
2021 Record: 10-2, 4-1 GNAC
Head Coach: Kevin Sakuda (1st season)
2019 Record: 7-9-1, 6-6 GNAC (3rd place)
First Meeting: No. 16 SPU 4, MSUB 3 (2OT) (Oct. 2 at Seattle)
 
The Falcons are coming off just their second loss of the season, falling 1-0 at Simon Fraser in their most recent match on Oct. 16. The defeat snapped a seven-game winning streak, and the Falcons are now tied with Western Washington at the top of the table with 12 points each. SPU hosts Simon Fraser and Western Washington next week after Saturday's match in Billings.
 
Alex Mejia is the only player in the GNAC with more goals than MSUB's Yilmaz, as the striker has found the net 12 times in his 12 games played. Alden Massey has added six goals, while Titus Grant, Judah Johnston, and Travis Swallow have scored three apiece for the conference's most prolific offense (30 goals).
 
Along with Mejia, Nik Reierson and Aidan Thrall are the other Falcon field players to have started all 12 matches under interim head coach Kevin Sakuda. Veteran goalkeeper Lars Helleren has played every minute of the season, making 47 saves and holding a 0.96 goals-against average with five shutouts.
 
The Series: SPU leads the all-time series between the teams 20-7-5, and has a 13-4-3 advantage in matches played in Billings. The Falcons have won three straight games at Yellowjacket Field dating back to the 2017 season.
 
Last Time Out: Four different SPU players scored, including a 105th-minute stunner from Massey to swipe the match at the last minute. Swallow, Mejia, and Johnston each also scored in the game on Oct. 2.