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HOUSTON – As the HBU men's soccer team nears the end of the 2017 regular season, the Huskies' sights remain set on the Western Athletic Conference tournament with a pair of home matches at Sorrels Field against UT Rio Grande Valley and Incarnate Word providing opportunities to move up in the league standings.

HBU (5-8-0, 2-6-0 WAC) faces off against UTRGV (5-6-3, 2-4-2 WAC) on Thursday, Oct. 26, evening at 7:00 p.m. before wrapping up the 2017 regular season schedule on Sunday, Oct. 29, a7 7:00 p.m. when the Huskies host Incarnate Word (4-10-1, 2-6-0 WAC).

The Huskies, after a 2-1 win over CSU Bakersfield on Oct. 12, have dropped their last three matches to San Jose State, Utah Valley and No. 25 Seattle. Sophomore Dominick Faletto leads the team with nine points, thanks to a pair of goals and five assists. In goal, Harrison Veith matched the program record in the Huskies' 1-0 loss at Seattle this past Sunday with 13 saves.

Veith, now averaging 5.75 saves per game, is currently third in the nation in that category. Additionally, his save percentage of .836 is the 14^th-best in the country. As a sophomore at Central Arkansas, Veith ranked in the top-10 nationally with 5.06 saves per game.

The Vaqueros come in to Thursday's match fresh off a 1-0 Senior Day loss to San Jose State. UTRGV is 1-3 on the road for the season, 0-3 in WAC play, with the lone win coming Sep. 10 at Northern Illinois. Ilias Kosmidis, a sophomore, leads the Vaqueros with five goals and 12 points. Despite a losing record on the year, UTRGV has out-scored opponents 19-15. Primary goalkeeper Andy Rios is 4-5-1 in goal with three shutouts and a 1.17 goals against average.

Sunday evening will mark the second meeting of the season between HBU and Incarnate Word with the Huskies coming out on top, 1-0, in a non-conference matchup in San Antonio on Sep. 22. Sophomore Malik Key provided the game-winner in that contest with a 53^rd minute goal. The Cardinals picked up their fourth win of the season last Sunday with a 1-0 overtime victory over CSU Bakersfield. Marjan Gamsjager and Fernando Laverde lead the team with a pair of goals each. UIW has been out-scored 21-10 on the season.

The Huskies are 12-3-3 all-time against UTRGV, counting matches against the school when it was known as UT-Pan American as well as UT-Brownsville, which merged with UTPA to create UTRGV. Against Incarnate Word, HBU is 3-6 over the years.

HBU currently stands with six points in the WAC standings, tied for 10^th. The top seven teams qualify for the conference tournament with two schools presently tied for seventh with nine points. Two teams are also tied for fourth at just 10 points.

Sunday evening will also be Senior Night for HBU, recognizing seniors Marc-Anthone and Brandon Smith before the start of the match.