LIVE STATS | CCC STANDINGS
GREAT FALLS, Mont. – Argo soccer's conference season is off to its best start since the team joined the Cascade Collegiate in 2015 with a 2-0 record and goal differential of 15-0. UP will look to continue that momentum with two home games against more difficult foes – Northwest Christian on Friday, September 22 and (5) Corban University on Saturday, September 23.

The first opponent of the weekend, Northwest Christian, has gotten off to a rough start in 2017, but the last time the Argos took the Beacons lightly, they paid dearly for it. In 2016, the two teams faced in Oregon in their second game of conference play, and NCU stunned the Argos with an early goal and then held on for a 1-0 win.

This year, the Argos will look to redeem that result at home, and based on each team's performances so far in 2017, they should be the favorite. Entering the weekend, UP sits at 3-1 (2-0) on the year with one non-conference win over a team receiving votes at the time in the 2017 NAIA Men's Soccer Coaches' Top 25 Poll and the one loss coming against the sixth ranked team in the nation. On the other hand, Northwest Christian has yet to win a game, sitting at 0-4-1 (1-1) on the year. That being said both of NCU's conference games have gone into overtime.

One advantage the Beacons could have over the Argos is plenty of experience playing I close games. All of NCU's contests in 2017 have been decided by 1 goal or less, while only one of UP's four games have been that close.

The two teams have played four times in their histories, with the Argos leading the all-time series 3-1. The game will be played at 3:30 p.m. on Argo Field.

While UP's first game of the weekend will be against a team it should beat, the second game will be one of the season's biggest challenges. At 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, the Argos will host defending conference champions (5) Corban.

The two teams have a short but significant history. Corban leads the all-time series 0-4-1 and beat UP in the 2017 Cascade Conference Finals 3-0, but that one tie has an extra significance. That game was in the 2016 Cascade Conference Semifinals and went into shootouts which UP won 8-7. Because the match was decided in shootouts, it technically counts as a tie, but the Argos were the ones celebrating when all was said and done.

In 2017, the Warriors are 6-0-1 with the tie coming against (25) Westmont (Calif.). Corban returns Third Team All-American and CCC Player of the Year Timur Zhividze, First Team All-Conference goalkeeper Jordan Farr, and First Team All-Conference forward Rolando Velazquez along with four other starters from the 2016 squad.

To pull the upset, the Argos will be looking for senior captain Christoffer Bisbo to continue his hot streak from the previous weekend. The forward broke the program record for goals in a game in UP's 8-0 win over Walla Walla University with 5 scores. He currently ranks 4th in the NAIA in Goals per Game with 1.750, and has scored at least once in three of the team's four games.

On the defensive side, junior goalkeeper Marc Girones, a 2016 Second Team All-Conference player, is having his best year yet while playing behind a relatively inexperienced back four. Girones currently sits 11th in the NAIA with 7.250 Saves per Game.