TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Rogers State men's soccer (7-5-5, 7-1-3 GAC/MIAA) earned the shutout in a hard fought, chilly 1-0 win over archival Northeastern State (2-8-7, 2-5-4 GAC/MIAA) on the road on Thursday.
 
"This was a very hard fought game," said Head Coach Derek Larkin. "This was a great win on the road for us, and I'm proud of our guys for coming away with the decision."
 
Marcos Vasallo got on the scoresheet for his team-leading sixth goal of the season. Declan Viljoen was stellar in goal as he picked up his fifth clean sheet of the year with four saves.
 
The first 45 minutes were a defensive stalemate as neither side was able to find much in the way of offensive opportunities. NSU narrowly outshot the Hillcats 4-3 in the period with two shots on target compared to RSU's one. The Hillcats best scoring chance came early in the ninth minute as Noah Preston-Watkins sent a shot toward the lower left corner of the goal only for the RiverHawk keeper to make a play on it.
 
In the second half, the two teams slowly began to find more momentum in their respective attacking thirds. NSU again outshot RSU 8-4 with three shots on goal to two. However, the Hillcats made their chances count as Preston-Watkins forced the NSU keeper to come off his line in the 56th minute and made a quick touch pass over to Vasallo, who drilled home the game winning goal to secure the 1-0 victory.
 
The Hillcats will close out the regular season on Saturday, Nov. 9 as they travel to Arkadelphia, Ark. and face off against Ouachita Baptist. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m.