TAHLEQUAH – Northeastern State men's soccer hosts Newman Saturday at 2 p.m. on the Gable Field turf. The game is scheduled no matter the predicted rain.
 
First touches

1. The match begins the second half of the spring Great American Conference season for the RiverHawks. NSU is 2-1 on the season.
2. NSU beat Southern Nazarene, 2-1 on Feb. 26 and after a 10 day layoff NSU fell to Rogers State 4-1 in Claremore. The RiverHawks most recently won at Harding 3-2 in double overtime.
3. James Doyle was named GAC Defender of the Week for his two goal performance two weeks ago. He has played every minute of the season along with Luis Soler, Cameron McCurdy and Flynn Semmerling.
4. In Wednesday's win, Ryan McCully found the back of the net twice to give the RiverHawks an early lead. After 16 minutes of extra time Ameer Madden found the back of the net for his second career tally.
5. Sam Scarth has assisted on four of NSU's six goals this season to lead the GAC while Soler (2) is the other player with multiple assists. The RIverHawks lead the conference in assists per game.
6. Goaltender Niklas Kirhoff played the entire match at Harding, it was the first time NSU this season NSU played one keeper.
7. Dating back to 1985, NSU holds a 13-10-2 advantage over the Jets. The teams split the series last season after not playing for eight years.
8. Newman is 2-3 (1-2 in GAC) on the season. The match in Tahlequah will be just the second outside of Wichita. The Jets haven't played a GAC match since March 4 when they beat Harding 5-1. Newman was picked fifth in the preseason coaches' poll.  
9. General admission bleacher seating on the east side of the stadium will be allowed on every third row to adhere to physical distancing recommendations.

Up next: NSU makes its final scheduled road trip to play Fort Hays State at 6:30 p.m. March 16.