Jags meet LSU Shreveport in early conference battle

The UHV men's soccer team will put its three-game winning streak on the line Thursday when it travels to LSU Shreveport.

Thursday's match figures to be crucial in the Red River Athletic Conference.

The Jaguars (3-0-1, 1-0-0), who have gone unbeaten in their last 18 regular season games, and Pilots (3-3-1, 1-1-0) have combined to win the last six conference championships with UHV winning four. LSU Shreveport, who won the 2022 RRAC title, were picked by the coaches as preseason favorites in the conference.

"We feel our non-conference games have prepared us for our upcoming RRAC competition," said head coach Adrian Rigby. "Shreveport will provide us a good test and we're excited for the upcoming games."

The Jaguars are coming off a record-setting 7-0 win over Texas College on Thursday with Saturday's contest against Jarvis Christian being postponed to Oct. 2.

Yahir Pena's four second-half goals set the new UHV single-game record for goals scored. In addition to Pena, junior forward Klaidas Pudlauskas and graduate senior defender Matthew Albury each scored their first goal of the season.

The Jaguars' 19 goals ranks second in the conference behind LSU Shreveport (20), which has played three more games than UHV. The Jaguars' 4.75 goals per game leads the conference.

UHV's back line has also been strong this season. The Jaguars' 0.57 goals against average ranks third in the conference and they have held opponents scoreless for the last 273 minutes and 28 seconds.

Thursday 3:30 p.m. game will be the 10^th meeting between the two teams with UHV holding a 6-1-2 edge in the all-time series. The Jaguars have gone unbeaten in the last eight matches with the Pilots.

The 2022 contest at The Cage ended in a scoreless draw.