Hastings at Northwestern

• PREVIEW
• BOXSCORE

The action on Korver Field for the men’s game will feature some of the best soccer talent in the Midwest.  Defending Region III Champion Northwestern will be playing its first home match since participating in the NAIA National Tournament last season against defending GPAC Champion Hastings College.  The two teams combine to put 11 players from last year’s All-GPAC squads on the field today; five first team players (Andy Janssen and Tyler Sytsma from Northwestern, and Nedim Hasanbegovic, Cory Sexson, and Mark Nave from Hastings), two second team players (Brendan Walker and Mike Stillmock from Hastings), and four honorable mentions (Ben Schneider, Steven Grand, and Aaron O’Brien from Northwestern and Brendan Walker from Hastings).  Hasanbegovic was the 2007 GPAC Player-of-the-Year while Hastings head coach Chris Kranjc was the GPAC Coach-of-the-Year.

The Northwestern/Hastings rivalry had been one sided since the beginning with Hastings winning the first 11 matches.  Northwestern, however, has reversed the trend, holding Hastings winless in the last three meetings.  In the 2006 NAIA Region III Championship game, Hastings and Northwestern were forced to take penalty kicks to determine a winner as the game ended in a tie.  In 2007, Northwestern defeated Hastings twice at Hastings, during the GPAC regular season and in the 2007 NAIA Region III Championship game.  The all-time series is now at 2-11-1 in favor of Hastings. 

This year’s Hastings and Northwestern teams’ are off to identical 1-0 GPAC and 3-3 overall starts.  So far this season, Hastings is led offensively by Joel Pedroza and Matt Wadleigh, who have both scored two goals.  Six other Broncos have scored goals and five players each have one assist.  Goalkeeper Mike Poteat has made 13 saves and allowed nine goals.  Hastings has faced a couple of tanked opponents early this season, taking on #10 Rio Grande (L 1-5) and #2 Concordia CA (W 1-0).  Their last time out they were defeated by Graceland College 2-0.

Northwestern is led by Aaron O’Brien and Tommy Tucker.  Each player has scored three goals and assisted on three goals.  Mike Cookson and Aaron Pall have each scored twice while Andy Janssen and Jordan Born have scored once.  Four Raiders have one assist for Coach Swier’s squad.  In goal, Ben Schneider and Jeff Lanser have both seen time, Lanser has made 11 saves and allowed two goals while Schneider has made 14 saves and allowed five goals.  The last time out Northwestern defeated Morningside 3-2 in double overtime.  O’Brien hit the game winner, assisted by Cookson.