Men's Soccer Faces Texas Lutheran On Friday For Annual Senior Night

Men's Soccer Faces Texas Lutheran On Friday For Annual Senior Night

Shreveport – The Centenary men's soccer team will face the Texas Lutheran Bulldogs on Friday in a crucial Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference match set for 7 p.m. at Mayo Field.

Friday is Senior Night for Centenary and Four Gents; Scott Halper (Franklin Lakes, N.J.), Rolando Hernandez (Arlington, Texas), Jeff Mallernee (Keller, Texas), and Gabe Rodriguez (Bossier City) will be honored in a special pregame ceremony.

The Gents (8-6, 3-4 SCAC) are sixth in the conference standings but just a half game behind fifth-place Southwestern (3-3-1) and a half game ahead of Dallas (2-4-1). Centenary plays host to Southwestern on Sunday in its regular-season finale at 2 p.m. The Gents defeated Dallas twice this season, once at home before SCAC play began (1-0 on Sept. 29) and then earned a 2-1 thrilling win on the road last Friday, Oct. 25 in conference play. Texas Lutheran is 11-5 and 5-2 in SCAC play and currently sits in second place in the league standings. Seeding for the 2019 SCAC Men's Soccer Championship, to take place Nov. 8-10 in San Antonio and hosted by Trinity University, will be determined after this weekend's games.

Centenary split a pair of conference matches last weekend on the road, winning the 2-1 match at Dallas on Friday and then falling to Austin College, 1-0, in double overtime on Sunday. The Gents will be pleased to be back home this weekend as they are a superb 7-1 at Mayo Field this season and have outscored the opposition by a 21-6 margin in those eight matches. 

Sophomore midfielder Wil Escobar (Cypress, Texas) leads the offensive attack for the Maroon and White this season with a team-best 10 goals and 20 points. He ranks second in the conference in goals, goals per game and points per game and fourth in points. He is also tied for first with four game-winning goals.

Escobar's 10 goals are also the most in a single season in the division III era in school history and has scored at least two goals in a match three times this season. He recorded a hat trick on Oct. 21 in a 6-3 home victory over Louisiana College and scored four goals in two weekend conference matches over Johnson and Wales (Oct. 4) and Colorado College (Oct. 6) and was named the SCAC Men's Soccer Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 8.

Sophomore goalkeeper Sami Borchalli (Lafayette, La.) anchors the Centenary defense. He leads the conference in saves with 80 and is also first in saves per game (6.67). He ranks second in save percentage and third in goals against average and is tied for first in shutouts with four. Fellow sophomore defender Diego Hernandez (Carrolton, Texas) was named the SCAC Men's Soccer Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 30 after leading the Gents to three consecutive shutouts at home from Sept. 24-29) against Hendrix, Austin College, and Dallas in which he played 250 of the 270 minutes.

The Gents wrap up the regular season on Sunday versus Southwestern at 2 p.m. Live stats and live video via College TV Ticket will be available for both matches and admission is FREE to both matches as well #CTheOpportunity #GoCentenary