COMING UP: at Multnomah, Friday, Noon; at Warner Pacific, Saturday, Noon.
 
GAMEDAY INFORMATION: Both weekend games will feature Live Stats via OIT's SIDEARM Stats Portal. Multnomah is hopeful to stream the game through their YouTube Channel, while Warner Pacific will stream the game through the Veo Live App (only available on mobile devices).
 
NOTE START TIMES: During the 2023 season, men's games open every Cascade Conference doubleheader – including this weekend, where both games are set for 12 p.m. starts.
 
MULTIMEDIA: All photos from the 2023 season will be posted online via the OIT Men's Soccer Flickr Page, while highlight clips and interviews will be posted online via the new OIT Men's Soccer YouTube Channel.
 
CONFERENCE SEASON BEGINS FRIDAY: The 13-match round-robin Cascade Conference schedule begins on Friday, as the 14-teams in the circuit embark on their quest to earn one of eight spots in November's CCC Championships. The winner of the regular-season and the CCC post-season tournament will receive automatic bids to the NAIA Championships. Each of the last two years – Oregon Tech and Warner Pacific have claimed the auto bids.
 
AROUND THE CASCADE CONFERENCE: CCC teams have had a successful preseason, with Bushnell and Rocky Mountain the lone unbeaten teams – BU sitting at 4-0-1 after a bevy of wins against Division III foes, with Rocky going to Florida and recording a 1-0-2 mark against high-caliber opponents. Southern Oregon fell from the unbeatens last week after a loss at Menlo, while OIT (2-1-1), Warner Pacific (3-1) and Northwest (3-1) each have one loss. The first week of league play has OIT and SOU traveling to Multnomah and WPU, College of Idaho and Eastern Oregon headed to Evergreen State and NU, Carroll and Providence making the difficult trip to Rocky and Walla Walla, while Bushnell heads to Corban for their rivalry match.
 
TOP-25 POLL: A week after earning points in the first NAIA Top-25 poll of 2023, OIT fell from the ranks in Wednesday's tabulation. No CCC team was ranked in the Top-25 – while both Southern Oregon and Warner Pacific received votes. Two of Tech's preseason opponents – Arizona Christian and Menlo – were also in the ORV category. The poll will be released each week throughout the regular-season.
 
ABOUT THE OPPONENT – MULTNOMAH: The league schedule opens Friday in Portland, as Multnomah puts a quality preseason record on the line against the Owls. The Lions (2-2) earned an opening win at Division II Chaminade, adding a victory at Cal Maritime, while dropping matches to NCAA foes Hawaii-Hilo and Puget Sound. MU has had the run of the pitch in all four matches – holding a 64-24 edge in shots and a 25-13 edge in corner kicks – led by top scorers Paul Einero (3 goals, 1 assist) and Camilo Vegara (2 goals). Keeper Pablo Mendoza (1.54 GAA, 6 saves, .500 S%) has played all but six minutes in goal, but faced just 12 total shots on frame. OIT is 6-1 all-time vs. the Lions (lone loss was a forfeit), outscoring MU 38-3 in the seven meetings, including a 3-2 win in Klamath last season.
 
ABOUT THE OPPONENT – WARNER PACIFIC: One of the biggest rivalries of the 2020s rekindles on Saturday, as OIT and Warner Pacific duel in the Rose City. The two sides have met four times over the past two seasons – a pair of regular-season draws, with Tech earning an overtime win in the 2021 CCC title game and WP earning an overtime win in the 2022 CCC title game. The 2023 Knights (3-1) opened the year with a road loss at Saint Martin's, but rebounded with three convincing wins against Division III opponents. Gone is first-team All-American and CCC Player of the Year Andrew Martinez, who scored 31 goals in 2022, but newcomer Bryce McCole (8 goals, 3 assists) had picked up where Martinez left off. Also back is honorable mention All-American Hunter Leach (1 goal, 1 assist), who had 13 goals a season ago. Players have shared time in goal for the Knights – with Josephe Juarez-Cruz (0.00 GAA, 3 saves) posting consecutive clean sheets. WP holds a 14-5-5 all-time series lead, with Tech searching for their first-ever win against the Knights in Portland (0-8-2).
 
A SPLIT IN THE DESERT: Tech closed out the preseason with a long road trip to Arizona, facing two of the top Golden State Athletic Conference sides in temperatures well above 100-degrees. A Cooper Hunt header inside the final five seconds of the first half got the Owls square at Arizona Christian, but an unfortunate foul outside the box set up a winning free kick with 80 seconds left – as ACU earned a 2-1 win. Two days later, OIT blitzed OUAZ – scoring three goals in the opening 20 minutes, including the third goal of the season from Rosendo Juarez-Flores – as the Owls picked up a 3-1 decision, just the second all-time win against a GSAC foe.
 
RIDEOUT BREAKS SCORING MARK: With the opening goal in last Saturday's win at OUAZ, fifth-year senior Brock Rideout became OIT's all-time leading scorer, pushing his career points total to 56 – surpassing the previous record of 55, set by John Sarna from 2019-22. Rideout is one goal shy of the career goals record of 21, established by Trinidad Flores, from 2015-18, while needing one assist to tie Sarna's assist record of 17.
 
NEXT WEEK: The Hustlin' Owls return home for matches Friday (Sept. 22) against Bushnell and Saturday (Sept. 23) against Corban.