The Lincoln Blue Tigers men's soccer team kicks off the third round of the NCAA Division II tournament today at 2 p.m. against the No. 2 seed Rogers State Hillcats in Claremore, Okla.
The Blue Tigers (12-1-6) advanced to the semifinals of Super Region 3 with a 2-1 (4-3 PKs) victory against the Tiffon (Ohio) Dragons.
Lincoln faced a 1-0 deficit in the contest before Hadri Lopez's diving header tied the score at 1. The score held up through the end of regulation and the end of two sudden death overtime periods.
Joseph Lozano put the Blue Tigers into today's matchup when he scored the fourth penalty kick for the Blue Tigers in the shootout.
Rogers State faced less trouble in its previous matchup defeating Cedarville (Ohio) 1-0. Ashton Medina scored the goal for the Hillcats in the 85th minute of regulation.
Rogers State outshout Cedarville 11-9 in the contest. They also had more opportunities from corner kicks than Cedarville with a 7-1 advantage.
Rogers State (13-3-6) is a member of the GAC/MIAA, losing 2-1 to Fort Hays State in the tournament championship.
The Hillcats enter the contest averaging 1.57 goals a game. They attempt an average of 14.0 shots a contest. For the season they have put 134 of their 293 shot attempts on goal. For a percentage of 45.7.
Brandon O'Rourke is the leading goal scorer for Rogers State with five. Other top scorers for the Hillcats are Oliver Hemlin, Noah Preston-Watkins and Grayson Horsley, who have all collected four. Louis Bassett and Ashton Medina have each netted three.
Bassett leads Rogers State with six assists. O'Rourke is second with four assists, while Medina, Alex Fletcher and Artur Carvalho have three.
Lincoln is scoring an average of 2.1 goals per game, which is 27th in all of Division II. The Blue Tigers take an average of 13.8 shots per game. On the season, 120 of their 262 shots on have been on target, for a percentage of 45.8.
Kevon Maitland leads Lincoln in scoring with eight goals. Five other Blue Tigers have netted four goals they are Hadri Lopez, Christopher Hull, Santiago Brisco, Nkouka Loubassou and Lozano.
Lopez leads the Blue Tigers in assists with five. Maitland and Hull have set up four goals each this season.
Defensively, the Hillcats are allowing an average of 0.7 goals a game. They are allowing an average of 11.4 shots a game. They have faced only 87 shots on goal this season for a percentage of 36.3 percent.
Jaxon Kendall has started every game in goal for Rogers State. He has made 71 saves, while saving 82.6 percent of shots he faces. On the season he has been apart of 11 shutouts.
Kendall made four saves against Cedarville.
Lincoln is holding its opponents to 9.9 shots a game. They have faced 189 shots with 99 on goal.
Vincent Osei started last contest for the Blue Tigers in goal. He has allowed 19 goals for a goals against average of 1.04. He has helped lead Lincoln to seven shutouts this season.
Osei made five saves in Lincoln's quarterfinal matchup with Tiffin.