Harding Men's Soccer
Southern Nazarene (1-4-0, 0-1-0) at Harding (1-1-2. 0-0-0)
Location: Searcy, Ark.
Time: 7 p.m.
Series: SNU leads 2-1
Coaches: Harding – Odie Guzman (5-12-5, 2nd Season); Southern Nazarene – George Schroeder (37-51-5, 6th season)
Live Stats: Available through a link on HardingSports.com
Harding
· Harding will play for the first time in nine days when it opens MIAA play Thursday against Southern Nazarene at the Stevens Soccer Complex. The Bisons' original MIAA opener against Northeastern State was postponed until Oct. 1 due to rain.
· The Southern Nazarene game starts a stretch of three straight home games after a successful road trip to Arkadelphia, where Harding defeated Ouachita Baptist 3-1 on Tuesday.
· The victory at Ouachita Baptist was Harding's first since defeating Upper Iowa on Sept. 28, 2012. It was the Bisons' first road victory since a 2-0 blanking of Southern Nazarene in Bethany, Okla., on Sept. 20, 2012. Harding is seeking its first consecutive victories since defeating Williams Baptist (6-0) and Delta State (1-0) in October of 2011.
· Ian Park scored Harding's first two goals, including the game-winner, against Ouachita Baptist. It was his first career two-goal game. His game-winner was the third of his career and second vs. Ouachita Baptist (also in 2011).
· With his two goals against Ouachita Baptist, Park has taken over the team lead in goals and points (4). Ryan Wilhelm and Jacob Stevens lead the team with 12 shots. Five different players have one assist.
· Senior Will Lynn made his first start of the season in goal against Ouachita Baptist and had four saves in collecting his first collegiate win.
· Junior defender Kevin Pineda is the only Harding player to have played all 400 minutes in the first four games.
Southern Nazarene
· Southern Nazarene is an NCAA Division II school located in Bethany, Okla., which plays men's soccer in the MIAA.
· Southern Nazarene enters the game 1-4-0 overall and 0-1-0 in the MIAA. The Harding game will be the fifth straight on the road for the Crimson Storm. Southern Nazarene has scored six goals and allowed 18. The Crimson Storm have only one first half goal this season.
· Southern Nazarene is coming off a 2-1 overtime loss to Fort Hays State in Hays, Kan., on Sept. 20. Trailing 1-0, SNU's Blake Rodgers scored an unassisted goal with 25 seconds left in regulation. Fort Hays scored just under nine minutes into overtime for the victory.
· Blake Rodgers and Edgar Pineda have both scored two goals to lead the Crimson Storm. Rodgers has a team-leading three assists. Tyler Wythe has started all five games for the Crimson Storm. He has a 3.46 goals against average and a 56.1 saves percentage.
The Series
· Harding and Southern Nazarene are playing for the fourth time with the Crimson Storm leading the series 2-1. The teams played first in 2002 with SNU winning 3-2 in Bethany. After a 10-year hiatus, the teams played twice last season. Harding won 2-0 in Bethany but fell 4-3 in Searcy.
· Harding has four players with career points against Southern Nazarene. Ian Park and Ryan Wilhelm both have one goal and one assist vs. the Crimson Storm, and Josiah Ireland and Cole Walker both have one goal.
