OPENING KICKOFF: The Snow College men's soccer team will host Truckee Meadows Community College Thursday at 3:30 p.m. The Badgers will continue playing at home Saturday against the College of Southern Idaho. Kickoff is scheduled at 1:30 p.m. Both matches will take place at the Snow College Soccer Complex in Ephraim, Utah.
 
The Badgers are coming off of a split last weekend after dropping a 4-0 match to North Idaho College and defeating Pacific Northwest Christian College 13-0.
 
KNOW YOUR FOE: The Badgers are 8-2 against TMCC historically after splitting the two matchups last season. The Badgers are 4-1 all-time against the Lizards when playing at home in Ephraim.
 
The Lizards are entering the match with a 4-4-1 overall record for their 2024 season. TMCC is coming off of a split weekend as well. They suffered a 2-0 loss to No. 2 Salt Lake Community College followed by a 3-1 victory over Colorado Northwestern Community College.
 
The Lizards are 2-3 in Scenic West Athletic Conference play with their only victories coming over Pacific Northwest Christian College (4-1) and CNCC (3-1). The Lizards have lost to CSI (2-1), NIC (3-0), and SLCC (2-0).
 
The Badgers will face the Golden Eagles following Thursday's matchup. Snow College has not played CSI in program history. CSI has recently added a soccer program to join their athletic program this season.
 
The Golden Eagles are 2-3 in conference play for the 2024 season. Their pair of victories are over TMCC (2-1) and PNCC (3-0) while losing matches to NIC (3-1), CNCC (2-1), and SLCC (6-0). CSI is entering this weekend coming off losses to the Spartans and Bruins.
 
LAST TIME OUT: The Snow College men's soccer team split the weekend series against North Idaho College and Pacific Northwest Christian College. The Badgers fell 4-0 to NIC before a 13-0 victory over PNCC.
 
Snow College entered the weekend with a 4-1-0 overall record for the season. The Badgers just came off of splitting last weekend's matches suffering a 2-1 defeat to No. 2 Salt Lake Community College and earning a 2-0 victory against Colorado Northwestern Community College.
 
Thursday's game pitted the Cardinals against the Badgers for the first time in program history. The match got off to a quick start with the Cardinals scoring in the 2nd minute, putting the Badgers into a 1-0 deficit very early. 
 
NIC scored once more in the 17th minute to extend the lead to two. Later in the match, the Badgers committed a foul inside the 18-yard box in the 34th minute resulting in a penalty kick for the Cardinals. The Cardinals converted the penalty kick to extend their lead to three.
 
Midway through the second half, Snow College received a red card in the 74th minute and were forced to play a man-down for the remainder of the match. The Cardinals took advantage and scored their final goal in the 81st minute and secured the 4-0 victory.
 
The Badgers ended the game with a total of 17 shots with five shots on goal. In return, the Cardinals shot 21 times with 12 on goal, while Mathias Christensen turned away eight of those shots.
 
Following the loss, the Badgers then hosted the Gladiators for Saturday's matchup. This was only the third matchup between the two teams historically with the Badgers taking all three so far.
 
Bontle Kotelo opened the scoring for the Badgers 9th minute assisted by Jack Cook. The Badgers went into halftime with a 1-0 lead on 10 shots. Snow College did not allow a single shot in the first half.
 
The second half got off to an odd start with the Gladiators scoring two own-goals in the first two minutes of the half. The Badgers added 10 more goals onto this 3-0 lead throughout the rest of the match.
 
Ansoumane Camara netted a goal in the 52nd minute off an assist from Ryan Henry. The Badgers added onto the lead with a Max Mayer goal in the 61st minute assisted by Mateus Romualdo.
 
Luis Pantoja then recorded a natural hat trick scoring the next three Badger goals in the 68th minute, 71st minute, and 75th minute. All three goals were assisted with them coming from Romualdo, Henry, and Aidan Moore.
 
After the hat trick, Mayer scored his second goal of the match in the 82nd minute on a pass from Jack Burman. Burman then scored two goals of his own with an unassisted goal in the 85th minute. He scored again in the following minute assisted by Mayer.
 
The last two goals for the Badgers both came in the 89th minute with Henry scoring on an assist from Camara. The Badgers were then fouled in the box for a penalty shot. Camara took advantage and netted the final goal for the Badgers.
 
The Badgers took a total of 31 shots throughout the match with 15 on goal. Snow College limited the Gladiators to just one shot. 
 
UP NEXT: The Badgers will continue their home stand Saturday, Oct. 5 against Utah State University Eastern. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at the Snow College Soccer Complex in Ephraim, Utah. For video streaming and live stat information, visit snowbadgers.com.