MARSHALL, Texas – Successfully taking two shutout victories last weekend, the East Texas Baptist University men's soccer team will be hosting both the University of Texas Dallas and Howard Payne University to finish out the regular season. ETBU will be taking on UTD on Friday at Freedom Fields in Bossier City, Louisiana while HPU will be at Cornish Field on Saturday.
ETBU went on the road to both Jackson, Mississippi and Pineville, Louisiana and came away 2-0 on the weekend. Against BU, ETBU used two second half goals from both Max Ponticorvo and Daniel Rutter for a 2-0 victory. Rutter then picked up a penalty kick in a 1-0 win over LC. With the two wins, ETBU also earned weekly honors as both Rutter and goalkeeper Bryant Botello were named ASC Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week respectively.
Rutter's three goals moves him ahead with six goals on the team while Silas Sangano, who is second along with Juan Cairo with three goals, is the team leader in assists (three) and shots (27). Botello has a goals against average of 1.14 while collecting 57 saves.
Currently, ETBU is fifth in the American Southwest Conference with a 4-3-2 conference record to go with an overall record of 7-5-2. This week will be an interesting challenge for the Tigers as they not only deal with a change of venue, but also go up against the top-seeded Comets of UTD. Originally scheduled as a home game at Cornish Field on Thursday, the contest has been moved to Freedom Fields on Friday due to weather conditions.
With last season's 2-0 loss to UTD, the Tigers have a 4-18-3 record all-time against the Comets. UTD (10-1-2, 8-0-1) is first in the conference after posting a 1-0 win against Sul Ross State University. Jon Munoz leads the way with nine goals with Donny Smith is second with six goals. Jesse Ardila has a team-leading four assists and 29 shots. Goalkeeper Chase Therrien has a GAA of 0.38 with 21 saves to his credit.
ETBU's last regular season game takes place against HPU. Last season would see the Tigers shutout the Yellow Jackets 1-0 in Brownwood. This would mark the all-time head-to-head meeting at 8-5-0 in ETBU's favor. Coming off a 1-0 victory over SRSU, HPU is 4-8 overall and 3-6 in the conference. Michael Westerman has four goals on 25 shots to lead the team while Ricardo Pierce and Spencer Lyon have two goals each. Goalkeeper Andrew Hackney sustains a GAA of 2.09 while picking up 41 saves.
Saturday will also be an emotional time as ETBU will be honoring six seniors in Michael Andrews, Travis Atkinson, Botello, Ryan Hammond, Rutter, and Thomas Sanford. As head coach Chris Crawford puts it, the journey from past year's to the now would not have been made without the seniors. "Losing those six guys will be tough because they have helped set the standard for what ETBU Soccer is all about," said Coach Crawford. "Every day, they brought the leadership, work ethic and bringing the intensity every day. We got a young group of guys that have learned a lot playing with these guys. When they're ready, they'll step up in the spring, take over and we'll have new leaders step up. That's the fun thing about college athletics. Once a guy graduates, it's time to see who the next guy is to take the lead and take ownership. We're excited to see that. But we're going to miss the six seniors for sure."
Friday's game starts at 1:00 PM while Saturday night's game will start at 7:30 PM.
