OPENING KICK: The Snow College men's soccer team will open its final stretch of home games against Pacific Northwest Christian College Thursday at 3:30 p.m. The Badgers will then turn their attention to North Idaho College Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
The Badgers are coming off a split weekend for their final road games, defeating Colorado Northwestern Community College 5-2. The Badgers then traveled to Taylorsville, where they fell to Salt Lake Community College 3-2.
REGION 18 OUTLOOK: The Badgers currently sit in third place in the Scenic West Athletic Conference standings with 21 points, just behind SLCC and the College of Southern Idaho, who have 23 and 22 points, respectively. The Badgers are just ahead of NIC and Utah State University Eastern, who are tied at 19 points.
Snow College needs three wins and at least a draw to clinch a berth into the Region 18 Tournament. Winning the conference championship is still possible, but the Badgers would likely need to win each of their final four games of the season.
KNOW YOUR FOE: PNWCC currently holds an 0-10 conference record. The Gladiators fell last weekend to Truckee Meadows Community College (4-1) and CSI (3-0).
The Badgers are 5-0 all-time against PNWCC and have scored 48 goals while keeping the Gladiators scoreless over all matchups. The Snow College single-game record for goals came against PNWCC in 2023 when the Badgers won 21-0.
NIC currently sits at a 6-3-1 conference record. Last weekend, the Cardinals picked up two victories over TMCC (8-0) and CSI (4-1). The Cardinals have USUE, Snow College, SLCC, and CNCC remaining on their schedule.
The Badgers have a 2-2 all-time record against NIC. The Badgers lost the meeting earlier this season, 1-0. Three of the four matchups have been separated by just one goal.
RECORD WATCH: Mathias Christensen recorded three saves over the weekend, bringing his season total to 39 and his career total to 94, which ties him for second all-time with Zachary Dean, who set it in the 2020-2021 seasons. Christensen needs four saves over the next four games to tie the school record for saves at 98 set by Jason Myers over the 2018-2019 seasons.
LAST TIME OUT: The Badgers opened up against CNCC on the right foot and took two shots within the first 10 minutes, one of which almost snuck past the keeper.
The Badgers found their footing and scored their first goal of the game in the 29th minute when
Francisco Madeira found the net after his shot two minutes before was stopped by the keeper.
The floodgates opened as the Badgers were able to score three more times in the next five minutes. The second goal came in the 29th minute after
Isaac Stanley sent a ball in off a corner kick, and
Ethan Ross was able to wrangle it and put it in the back of the net.
The third came in the 31st minute, when Madeira found his second goal of the game, powering the ball past the CNCC keeper. The Badgers found a fourth goal in the 34th minute as Stanley found the net off an assist from Gabe Davis. The Badgers entered the half up 4-0.
The second half started on a defensive note as neither team was able to find a solid offensive footing until the Spartans recorded their first goal in the 75th minute, off a penalty kick. The Spartans scored again in the 78th minute to cut the Badger lead to 4-2.
The Badgers were able to find an insurance goal in the 83rd minute when Stanley got the ball past the CNCC keeper for his second of the game, bringing the score to 5-2 for Snow College.
After the match with CNCC, Snow College traveled to Taylorsville to take on SLCC in its final road game of the regular season.
The match started in the Bruins' favor as they were able to find a goal in the eighth minute, putting the Badgers on their back foot early. Between the 25th and 42nd minute, the Badgers put three shots on net, two of which were saved, and one found the back of the net in the 42nd minute.
Max Palmer made the goal happen and was assisted by Stanley, bringing the score to 1-1 at half.
The Badgers started the second half by finding the back of the net in the 59th minute when
JJ Cubillas fed a ball into Stanley, who scored his third goal of the weekend, giving the Badgers a 2-1 lead.
After the goal, the match turned into a defensive battle; only one shot was taken by either team until the 76th minute, when SLCC managed to find the equalizer. The Bruins would score again in the 86th minute off a penalty kick to take a 3-2 lead and close out the game.
Snow College finished the game with seven shots, five of which were on net. The Bruins finished with the same number of shots, with one less shot on net.
UP NEXT: The Badgers will play their final regular-season games at home. They open with CSI Oct. 23 at 3:30 p.m. The Badgers lost the earlier matchup 1-0 in Twin Falls, Idaho.
They will then turn their attention to TMCC Oct. 25 at 1:30 p.m. The Badgers defeated the Lizards 6-0 in Reno, Nevada, earlier this season. For video streaming and live stat information, visit snowbadgers.com.
