TAHLEQUAH -- The Northeastern State University Men's Soccer team will continue Great American Conference play this weekend with two home matches. They will host the Southern Nazarene Crimson Storm on Thursday at 7 p.m. and the Oklahoma Baptist Bison on Saturday at 7 p.m.  Head Coach Rob Czlonka will be heading into the weekend with needing one win to reach 100 in his career.

Free t-shirts will be thrown to fans at halftime of Thursday's match. 

First Touches
1. The RiverHawks are 3-3 this season with a 1-1 record in GAC play. They are coming off a 1-0 victory over Newman on Sunday that followed an overtime loss to Fort Hays State. The RiverHawks also have non-conference wins against Missouri S&T and Oklahoma Christian. 

2. NSU is led by Aaron Ugbah, who has two goals and two assists for NSU to go with five shots on goal. Matthew Corness, Flynn Semmerling, Ben Watson, Tom Singhgolden, Ameer Madden and Jameson Biles also have goals for the RiverHawks. Justin Hinman has been the goalie for every match, recording 17 saves and one shutout, which came on Sunday against Newman.

3. NSU is on a two-match win streak against the Crimson Storm, thanks to a 7-0 win on Oct. 27, 2018 and brought NSU's all-time record in the series to 16-29-2

4. The Riverhawks have let to lose to the Bison, bringing a 7-0 record into Saturday's match. Their last meeting was on Oct. 25, 2018, and resulted in a 4-0 win for NSU. The RiverHawks out-shot the Bison 34-6 in that match with four separate RiverHawks finding the back of the net. 

5. The RiverHawks are led by head coach Rob Czlonka, who is in his ninth season as head coach. NSU has known a lot of success under Czlonka, having qualified four times for the NCAA Tournament, including two trips to the NCAA Elite 8 (2015, 2017) and two trips to the NCAA Sweet 16 (2014, 2018). Czlonka entered the season with the fourth-best winning percentage among active NCAA Division II head coaches.

6. The Crimson Storm enter the weekend with a 1-5 record, and a 0-2 mark in conference play. Their last action came on Saturday, a 3-0 loss to Harding. They are led by Eric Romero and Guy Esquivel, both of whom have two goals. Esquivel also leads the Bison with eight shots on goal. Bence Mocsari has made 16 saves in net this season while starting all six matches.

7. The Bison will enter the weekend with a 3-3 record, and a 1-1 mark in conference play. Before facing NSU, they will face Rogers State on Thursday night. Peterson Costa leads the Bison with three goals, while Dominic Gibson and Bruno Ferreira both have two goals. Luis Romero leads the Bison in shots on goal with eight. Parker Lawter and Elias Diaz have split time in net, with Lawter recording 17 saves and Diaz recording 13 saves. 

Up Next: The RiverHawks will continue their GAC homestand with a matchup with Rogers State on Oct. 4 and Ouachita Baptist on Oct. 10 before traveling to face Harding on Oct. 12.