WAVERLY, Iowa – The Wartburg College Knights men's soccer team (9-6-2 overall, 5-2-1 A-R-C) have earned the third seed and will play host to the sixth-seeded Nebraska Wesleyan University Prairie Wolves (8-8, 3-5) on Saturday, Oct. 27 at 3 p.m. in the first round of the American Rivers Conference Tournament.
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Win and Advance
The two teams met on Oct. 6, where the Knights pulled out a gritty 5-4 double overtime victory at home. The victor of this match will go on to travel to Decorah, Iowa, to face Luther College in the second round of the A-R-C Tournament on Wednesday, Oct. 31.
Wartburg
The Knights are coming into Saturday's match off a 0-0 double overtime tie to UW-Platteville on Oct. 23. The Knights own the conference's fourth-best offense, scoring 32 goals in the 17 matches they've played. Leading the Knights in goals is senior forward
Ben Johnson (Marion), who's eight goals are tied for first-overall in the conference. Trailing Johnson in goals scored is senior forward
Ayo Adebayo (Rochester, Minn.) with seven, senior mid
Daniel Luzindya (Cedar Rapids) with six and sophomore forward
Jack Palen (Norwalk) with six. Luzindya's six assists on the season lead the team and are good for second-overall in the A-R-C.
Senior goalkeeper
Paul Koebke Barsic (Madison, Wis.) is the man under the net for the Knights and has had a strong season to show. On the year, Koebke Barsic has recorded 9 wins, six shutouts and 61 saves in 1081 minutes of play. His goals against average stands at less than one goal per game (.83) and his save percentage ranks in the 85
th-percentile (.859). Koebke Barsic's save percentage ranks first-overall in the A-R-C, while his shutouts are tied for first-overall in the conference among active goalies. His saves per game average (5.08) and goals against average rank second-overall.
The Knights have been stout at home, earning a 5-2-2 record over the course of the season.
Nebraska Wesleyan
The Prairie Wolves are coming into the first-round matchup with back-to-back wins over the University of Dubuque and Buena Vista University. On the season, Nebraska Wesleyan has scored 28 goals in comparison to their opponent's 25. Nebraska Wesleyan's overall offense ranks one spot behind the Knights at fifth-overall, with a score average of 1.75 goals per game.
The Prairie Wolves are led in scoring by Jake Kennedy, who shares the league lead in goals scored with Ben Johnson at eight goals scored. Alex Day is the next highest scoring Prairie Wolf in scoring at four goals this season. Defending the goal for Nebraska Wesleyan is a trio of goalies, Zac Collins, Samuel Lesoing, and Will Phillips, who all have combined for 25 goals given up on 1451 minutes of play. The trio has recorded 68 saves on the season with five total shutouts.
The Prairie Wolves are coached by Brandon Bonilla, who finished up his first regular season at Nebraska Wesleyan with an 8-8 overall record.
National Stat Rankings
The Orange and Black have multiple Knights in the top-100 of statistical categories at the national-level.
Daniel Luzindya's six assists are tied for 94
th nationally. Paul Koebke Barsic's six shutouts are tied for 41
st nationally, while his save percentage stands at 24
th overall and his goals against average is 79
th.