No. 15 Fort Hays State vs. No. 20 Northeastern State Thursday, September 20, 2012 Hays, Kan. - FHSU Soccer Stadium - 7 p.m. Live Stats

The No. 15-ranked Fort Hays State men's soccer team welcomes No. 20 Northeastern State to Hays for an important MIAA match on Thursday at the FHSU Soccer Stadium at 7 p.m.
 
The Tigers are 5-1 and 1-0 in the MIAA, while the Riverhawks are 4-1 and 1-0 in the MIAA.
 
FHSU suffered its first loss, 2-0, last week on the road at then No. 13 West Texas A&M. The Tigers started their two-match road trip with a 5-2 conference win over Southern Nazarene. In the 5-2 win, Diego Cabral led the Tigers with two goals, while Austin Clifton had one goal and one assist. Also scoring were Michael Cole and Daniel Peralta, who scored on a penalty kick for his team-high five goals. Cabral's two goals pushed him to second on the team this season with four goals and he adds one assist. Clifton leads FHSU with three assists, including one in the SNU win.
 
The Riverhawks are 4-1 with their lone loss coming at the Days Inn/FHSU Soccer Classic where NSU lost, 3-2, in overtime to Colorado Mesa. NSU wins are against University of Missouri-St. Louis, Maryville University, Sioux Falls and Harding. Bo White leads the Riverhawk offense with seven goals, while Juan Peralta adds two goals. Jordan Ladbrooke is the Riverhawks starting goalkeeper. He has a 1.05 goals against average and 0.667 save percentage. In 428 minutes, he allowed five goals and made 10 saves.
 
The match is the third all-time meeting between the two programs with the series record tied at 1-1. NSU won the first meeting -- the Tigers first road match in school history -- 1-0 on Sept. 9, 2011 in Tahlequah, Okla. FHSU won 2-1 on Senior Day in Hays on Oct. 30, 2011 in the second meeting.  
 
The clash is a battle between preseason MIAA No. 1 and 2 as the Tigers were picked No. 1 and the Riverhawks No. 2 in the MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll. FHSU received 46 points and four first place votes while NSU received 41 points and two first place votes.
 
Thursday's match is the first of six straight home matches for the Tigers, including four straight against MIAA opponents. FHSU hosts Harding on Saturday (Sept. 22) at 1 p.m. in a conference tilt.