Lopes host Oral Roberts to conclude non-conference slate

Friday, September 22

Phoenix, Ariz.

7:00 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Oral Roberts

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Lopes host Oral Roberts to conclude non-conference slate

9/21/2017 2:17:00 PM | Men's Soccer

GCU Match Notes 2017 Media Guide

Teams meet up on Friday at 7 p.m.

By: Josh Hauser


Grand Canyon Lopes (2-5, 0-0 WAC)	vs.	Oral Roberts Golden Eagles (2-2-1, 0-0 Summit)
		Friday, Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. MST
GCU Match Notes Media Guide		Game Notes Live Stats Live Video

The Grand Canyon men's soccer team is set to conclude its most challenging non-conference schedule in program history on Friday. The Lopes welcome in the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles for a Friday match that is set to kick off at 7 p.m. MST on GCU.tv and the WAC Digital Network.

The challenging nature of GCU's non-conference schedule has been well-documented. To date, six of GCU's seven opponents have spent time in the Top 25 this season. The Lopes' strength of schedule currently ranks 29th nationally.

"We knew it was going to be difficult," Hyndman said of the non-conference schedule. "Playing on the road, a couple overtime games that didn't go our way, and then picking up the injuries. It's a little frustrating for us, but I think the non-conference has made us tougher."

The Lopes are coming off of one of their best offensive weekends in recent memory, scoring 7 goals between two matches against UC Riverside and CSUN. The defense also gave up scores, unfortunately, leading to a 1-1 split of the weekend's two matches.

Thursday's game was about as high scoring as you could ask for. The Lopes won 5-4 including a hat trick courtesy of Damian German, the first of the junior's career. German was rewarded for his efforts by earning the WAC Offensive Player of the Week award.

Aidan McGlothan was a surprise contributor offensively, scoring the first two goals of his four-year GCU career, all within five minutes of game time. McGlothan's first score was the game-winner on Thursday against UC Riverside, finding the back of the net on a header with under :05 to go in the first overtime.

Freshmen contributions have been an early-season theme for the Lopes, especially over last weekend. Josh Drack tallied four points in Thursday's win including a pair of assists and his first collegiate goal. Musa Morris Demos added his first collegiate score on Sunday night. Marco Afonso added a second career assist over the weekend.

"I thought Marco played a good game and Musa scored a good goal," Hyndman said following Sunday's loss to CSUN. "I thought Josh did everything we expected him to do."

Drack has set a high standard from the coaching staff early in his career. The reigning Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year has started all seven of GCU's matches on the season.

The visiting Oral Roberts Golden Eagles of the Summit League come in 2-2-1. The two squads share one common opponent thus far with ORU drawing with Wisconsin while the Lopes fell to the Badgers on the road.

Oral Roberts has gotten contributions from players all over the field, with its nine goals coming from seven different individuals. Santiago Riveros leads the team in points (5), although both of his goals have come on penalty kicks. Nearly half (4-of-9) of Oral Roberts' scores on the year have come off of PK opportunities.

This is the first meeting between the two schools in men's soccer.

Following the single match this weekend, the Lopes will have eight days to prepare for the conference opener against Houston Baptist next Sunday at GCU Stadium.

For more GCU men's soccer news, notes and numbers, click here to view this week's match notes and click here to view the media guide.