PORTALES, N.M. – The Eastern New Mexico men’s soccer team will host UT Permian Basin on Thursday night inside Greyhound Stadium before hitting the road on Saturday afternoon for a match against arch-rival #23 West Texas A&M. Both foes are in the West Division of the Heartland Conference, making these matches very important as the Hounds look to make a run at the Heartland Conference Tournament.

LAST TIME OUT
The Hound suffered back-to-back losses for the first time in Heartland Conference play last weekend with losses on the road at St. Mary’s and Texas A&M-International. Eastern struggled to gain control of the match on Thursday night in San Antonio, Texas against St. Mary’s, falling behind 1-0 in the 18th minute and recorded their second lowest total shots of the season with seven.

Eastern responded nicely on Saturday afternoon in another tough road test against Texas A&M-International and saw three different Hounds record goals in the 4-3 losing effort. The Hounds and Destdevils each recorded 13 shots in the contest and saw four lead changes throughout the game.

After alternating goals to keep the match square at 2-2 early in the second half, a Julian Trapp goal in the 64th minute gave the Hounds a 3-2 advantage. That lead would last less than 10 minutes, however, as two goals less than a minute apart in the 72nd minute for Texas A&M-International served as the difference in the 4-3 game.

SCOUTING THE FALCONS
UT Permian Basin has picked up just one victory on the season and currently sports a record of 0-6 in conference play. The Falcons are coming off 2-0 and 2-1 losses at home against Midwestern State and Oklahoma Christian last weekend and currently sit in last place in the Heartland Conference West Division.

UTPB has scored just 10 goals, ranking 10th in the conference and has conceded a total of 23. Junior Santi Morales has netted four of the goals on the season for UTPB and leads the team with 10 points.

HISTORY WITH THE FALCONS
Eastern New Mexico and UT Permian Basin met back on Sept. 13 in Odessa, Texas for the Heartland Conference opener for both teams with Eastern taking the 3-1 victory in the match. The Hounds got off to one of their better starts of the season with 10 shots in the opening half with goals from Aderi Arthur-Dede and Gabriel Peres and never looked back.

That victory for the Hounds snapped a four game losing streak to the Falcons and served as their first victory over UTPB as a member of the Heartland Conference. The overall series record now sits at 6-6-1 while the Hounds sport a record of 2-3-1 at home against the Falcons.

SCOUTING THE BUFFS
#23 West Texas A&M made their debut in the United States Soccer Coaches Division II National Polls for the first time since 2014 this week and will be riding a five game winning streak entering this weekend’s play. The Buffs rank third in the nation in total goals (36) and total points (103) and have recorded three or more goals in each game throughout the five match winning streak.

Senior Julio Vargas leads the Heartland with 21 points and has scored the second most amount of goals in the league with eight. Vargas holds a five-shot advantage over Arthur-Dede for the conference lead in shots.
The Buffs are 5-0 this year at home and sit atop the West Division of the Heartland Conference standings with 15 points.

HISTORY WITH THE BUFFS
Eastern New Mexico has struggled with their arch rivals throughout the series history, trailing 2-19-3 overall. The Hounds have dropped the last two contests to the Buffs by finals of 8-1 and 2-1 and saw their last win come back on Oct. 29, 2016.

Eastern is 1-12 on the road against West Texas A&M and had their last win back on Oct. 8, 2014.

A LOOK AT THE STANDINGS
The Hounds currently sit in third place in the West Division of the Heartland Conference standings with seven points. With the top three teams in each division advancing to the postseason tournament along with the remaining three highest point earners at the conclusion of the season, the in-division games for the Hounds such as this weekend’s matches will be very critical moving down the stretch.

As it stands right now, Eastern sits three points back of a bid to the postseason tournament with eight games remaining on the regular season schedule, four of which are against West Division foes. The Hounds have picked up the previously mentioned 3-1 win over UTPB and a 1-1 tie against Lubbock Christian for their in-division games so far this season.

ADERI AVERAGING A LOT
Freshman Aderi Arthur-Dede currently ranks second in the LSC with 3.56 shots per game and has totaled 32 shot attempts so far this season. Arthur-Dede leads the Hounds with nine points and four goals and has found the back of the net in two out of the last three matches.

SEASON HIGHS
Eastern New Mexico has been aggressive so far this year in games against West Division foes, tallying the two highest totals in shots in the matches against UT Permian Basin and Lubbock Christian with 20 and 18 attempts respectively.

THE DALTON EFFECT
Keeper Ross Dalton has provided a spark for Eastern in his six appearances so far this season. The sophomore ranks fourth in the LSC in save percentage (.750) and has totaled 18 saves on the year.