Bearcats Announce Men's Soccer Schedule for 2014

By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

SALEM, ORE. -- A total of nine home games and a trip to the Midwest highlight the Willamette University men's soccer schedule for 2014. The Bearcats will play a full 20-game schedule, including 16 games in the Northwest Conference.

Willamette opens the season on Aug. 29, at Lake Forest College in Illinois. The Bearcats will complete their season-opening trip with games at Loras College (Iowa) on Aug. 31 and at Carthage College (Wis.) on Sept. 1.

After returning to the Pacific Northwest, the Bearcats will play a road game at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., on Sept. 7 before playing their home opener on Friday, Sept. 12 against the University of California-Santa Cruz at 7 p.m. Willamette will host Multnomah University (Ore.) on Saturday, Sept. 13, also at 7 p.m.

The games against UC-Santa Cruz and Multnomah are part of Willamette's Alumni Weekend/Homecoming.

The Bearcats will play their seven NWC home games in two homestands. The first will include four games between Sept. 27 and Oct. 5, as WU takes on Pacific Lutheran University, University of Puget Sound, Pacific University and George Fox University.

Willamette's second homestand will include three games. The Bearcats will battle Whitworth University on Nov. 1 and will face Whitman College on Nov. 2. The final game of the regular season will be against archrival Linfield College on Nov. 8.

In between the two groups of home games, the Bearcats will play five consecutive NWC games on the road between Oct. 11 and Oct. 26.

Last season, the Bearcats achieved a 10-6-3 overall record and a 6-5-3 mark (5th place) in the NWC. The Bearcats were a solid 8-2-1 in home games at Sparks Field. WU scored 39 goals in 19 games.

Over the past two years, Willamette has gone 20-13-5 with back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 1993-94 and a total of 75 goals in the 38 games. The Bearcats were 7-5-2 (4th place) in the NWC standings in 2012. Head Coach Lloyd Fobi is ready to enter his fourth season with a career record of 26-22-7 (.536) at Willamette.

Top returning scorers for the Bearcats are Yazan Hishmeh (Jr., F, Ventura, CA/Saint Bonaventure HS) and Tyler Yates (Jr., MF, Kailua-Kona, HI/Kealakehe HS). Hishmeh ranked second on the team with 9 goals and 6 assists for 24 total points. Yates was third with 5 goals and 2 assists for 12 points.

Goalkeeper Braydon Calder (Jr., GK, Philomath, OR/Philomath HS) achieved a 9-5-3 record in 2013 with a 1.08 goals against average. He earned 82 saves during the season and registered four solo and two shared shutouts.