PREVIEW: Men's Soccer takes momentum into Homecoming match vs. Emory & Henry

SALISBURY, N.C. – Coming off its biggest victory of 2024 and third straight shutout, the Catawba College men's soccer team squares off with Emory & Henry in a Homecoming Weekend match on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

Open the Win Gates

- The Catawba Indians picked up their first win at Frock Field on Wednesday, knocking off the Wingate Bulldogs, a program that was receiving votes and previously held positions in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 poll

- Rodrigo Albayeros and Garrett Alban recorded the goals as Bautista Vecchi-Ramello and Kenny Hassler provided assists in the 2-0 victory

- Zak Stiffler held off the Bulldogs with three saves including a monster stop on a penalty kick in the 40th minute

- Of Catawba's three wins this season, Wednesday's match contained the largest margin of victory; the blue and white posted a 2-1 decision at Mount Olive early before taking down Anderson with a lone goal two weeks ago

Hushed Opposition

- Catawba has held its last three opponents, all South Atlantic Conference foes, scoreless

- The squad's 1-0 defeat of Anderson on Oct. 5 marked its first conference triumph as Joe Whitney gobbled up each of the Trojans' three shots on goal

- Last Sunday, Tusculum failed to find the back of the net in a nil-nil draw thanks to Stiffler's season-high five saves

- Stiffler locked down again on Wednesday with a PK save and two additional diving stops

- Heading into the matchup at Anderson, Catawba's goalkeeping unit was averaging 2.50 goals against with a .429 save percentage. Those values have improved drastically in three matches, currently sitting at 1.82 and .545

Sibling Rivalry

- Kheynne Ona-Vera's brother, Greg Ona-Vera, is a senior midfielder for the Wasps

- Hailing from South Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte, the siblings graduated three years apart

- Greg remained close to home at Belmont Abbey while Kheynne continued playing for the Sabres, then transferred to Emory & Henry as Kheynne started his career at Catawba

- In the Ona-Veras' lone season together, South Meck reached the NCHSAA regional round and finished at 18-6-1

All-Time Series

- Catawba is 2-0 against Emory & Henry in the series that began in 2022 when the institutions became league opponents

- The Wasps have been out-scored 16-1, falling 10-1 in 2022 and 6-0 in 2023

- Last season's match saw five different players tally a goal while the initial meeting produced Catawba's highest scoring output since it overpowered Chowan, 12-0, in 2013

- The Catawba Indians have yet to lose a Saturday match at 1-0-3 and remain undefeated against teams with losing records, going 1-0-2 so far this year

Scouting the Wasps

- Emory & Henry is still hunting for its first win at 0-8-1, 0-6 in conference action in its inaugural campaign as a full Division II member

- Since the decision to reclassify from Division III was made in November 2020, it has been tough sledding for the Wasps whose five-year record sits at a bleak 4-55

- Despite being winless since Oct. 24, 2021, E&H has shown improvement this season with a scoreless draw at Virginia State and a close call against No. 5 Limestone in which the Saints used an 86th-minute goal to avoid their first in-conference blemish

- Emilio Hernandez-Araujo and Josiah Wilson have combined for 44 saves with a .629 clip between the posts, shouldering a roughly even load this fall

- The Wasps have found the twine three times from three unique scorers in A.J. Dale, Christian Russell, and Ethan Hayes

Follow Along

All South Atlantic Conference matches are broadcast on FloSports ($) as live stats will be available on CatawbaAthletics.com.