Yellowjacket Soccer Team Plays Three Games in Salt Lake This Weekend (Sep. 1, 2004)

BILLINGS, MT – The Montana State-Billings men’s soccer team will play three games in three days this weekend when the Jackets take part in a four team tournament hosted by Westminster College in Salt Lake City.  The Yellowjackets will kick off the tournament with a Thursday evening game against Vanguard.  They will face host Westminster Friday evening and Newman on Saturday afternoon.

The Yellowjackets will be looking to build momentum heading into the start of classes.  Head Coach Doug Seigle scheduled five of the team’s dozen road games before classes begin on September 8, reducing missed class time.  MSU Billings split a pair of games in California last weekend, defeating Humboldt State, 1-0, before losing to second-ranked Cal State-Chico, 2-0.

Jesse Spann (Jr., MF, Rock Springs, WY) scored the Yellowjackets’ only goal of the weekend in the win over Humboldt State.  He found the net just 1:30 into the game, setting a school record for the fastest goal scored to start a game.  The previous fastest goal was scored by Dave Austin, 2:00 into a game against Morningside in 2001.

Goalkeeper Jess Feldtman (Jr., GK, Lander, WY) is 1-1-0 for the season with seven saves.  He has played all 180 minutes in goal for the Yellowjackets so far and is likely to log most of the minutes this season.

Vanguard University (Mesa, California) will be playing its first official game of the season when it meets the Yellowjackets on Thursday.  In a pair of exhibition games, the Lions defeated Cal Poly Pomona, 2-1, and lost to Cal State-Northridge, 7-0.  Vanguard returns Matthew Hess, last year’s leading scorer, who netted 29 goals and 64 points in 2003.

Tournament host Westminster College is off to a 2-0 start after downing College of the Southwest, 4-3 in overtime, and thumping Johnson and Wales, 8-0.  Junior Travis Nicolaides has scored three goals so far this season.  The Griffins defeated the Yellowjackets twice last year, winning 4-0 in Salt Lake early in the season and 4-1 in Billings near the end of the year.

Newman University (Wichita, Kansas) is also opening its season at the Westminster tournament this weekend.  The Jets were 9-7-1 last season and return first team all-conference goalkeeper Martin Jones who played all 1860 minutes last season.  Jones made 72 saves with an impressive 1.06 goals-against average.

Following the Yellowjackets’ three games in Salt Lake City over the weekend, they will return to Billings for their home opener on Monday, September 6 against University of Colorado-Colorado Springs.  Kickoff will be at 11:00 a.m., and the game will precede the Lady Jackets’ game against Mesa State.