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SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster College men's soccer team will hit the road for the first time of the 2011 season this weekend.  The Griffins will play three games in three days and begin the trip on Friday against The Master's College.  Westminster will face Biola on Saturday before a Sunday contest with Soka University.

Griffin Notebook
Westminster will enter the road trip at 3-1 after four home games to start they year.  The Griffins are averaging 1.50 goals per game with six total goals scored.  The offense has attempted 63 shots over the first four games and put 24 of those on frame.  Defensively, they have held the opposition to just 32 shots with 19 being on target.

Dennis Sellis leads the team with nine points and ranks 22nd nationally in the department.  Sellis has scored four goals with one game-winner and one game-winning assist.  He also is 14th in the NAIA with an average of 6.25 shots per outing.  Gabe Gonzalez and Bonny Ward have each added one goal for two points.

Damir Sabanovic has played the majority of minutes in goal and has picked up two wins.  His 0.74 GAA ranks 36th in the nation while his 13 saves are 46th-most across the NAIA.  Nathan Young has made two appearances and recorded two saves in his 135 minutes.  He picked up one win and one shutout while recording a 1.33 GAA.

Game Coverage
At this time live stats and video streaming are not available for the matches this week.  If anything becomes available, visit WestminsterGriffins.com for any available links.

Friday's Opponent: The Master's College
The Master's College enters play this week at 3-0 overall and having outscored the opposition 12-2 in those games.  The Mustangs four goals per game average ranks 11th in the NAIA and they sit 18th nationally in total goals.  They average 13 shots per contest and have put 20 shots on goal.

Zachary Egeler has scored a team-leading nine points and his 3.00 points per game rank second in the GSAC.  He has posted two game-winning goals while his four total goals are also second in the conference.  Andrew Bussell has posted one shutout and made six saves while recording a 0.67 GAA.

Saturday's Opponent: Biola
Biola will also enter the week with a perfect 3-0 mark.  The Eagles have outscored their opponents 9-1 over the three games with two shutouts.  After opening the year with just one goal against Cal State San Marcos, Biola has responded with four goals in each of the previous two contests.

Marco Ruvalcaba has scored a team-best three goals while adding two assists for eight points.  Daniel Chew has two goals and two assists for six points. Aaron Fenlason has posted two shutouts and made nine saves at keepers for the Eagles.  His 0.33 GAA ranks 14th in the NAIA.

Sunday's Opponent: Soka University
Soka enters the week of play at 0-2 on the year and haven't scored a goal in those two contests.  The Lions dropped a 1-0 decision to Trinity Christian to start the years and then suffered a 2-0 loss against Simpson on Sunday.

Marco Timm has fired a team-best six shots while putting five of those on goal.  Christian Mera has put three shots on frame while three others have two shots on goal.  Timothy Sasser has made 22 saves between the pipes with a 1.50 GAA.

Continuing Where He Left Off
Westminster senior forward Dennis Sellis ha started this season exactly where he left off after last season's injury.  Sellis has scored four goals in the first four games, including one game-winner.  He has fired 25 shots and put 11 on frame in 362 minutes played.  He also recorded the game-winning assist against La Sierra last week.

Sellis has now scored 20 goals in his Westminster career. His 0.61 goals per game average currently ranks third in school history. His also currently sits second in school history with an average of 1.42 points per game.

Sellis Picked Again
For the second straight week, Westminster College senior forward Dennis Sellis has been named the Frontier Conference men's soccer offensive player of the week.  This is the sixth time that Sellis has received the honor in his career.

During the week, Westminster defeated Rocky Mountain 1-0, La Sierra University 2-1 and McPherson College 3-2. Sellis scored the game winning goal against Rocky and had the game-winning assist in overtime against La Sierra. He scored two goals against McPherson to give him his third career multi goal game.

Dumke Advantage
The Griffins have posted a 41-12-3 all-time record on the fast surface of Dumke Field.  In the past four seasons Westminster is 22-4-2 at home, including 5-0-1 in 2008.  Over the past two seasons, the Griffins are 11-3 at home and have outscored the opposition 20-10 in those games.

Checking the Polls
Westminster currently sits just outside the top 25 in the 2011 NAIA Men's Soccer Coaches' Top 25 Poll that was released on Tuesday.  The Griffins received 120 points in the poll and came in one point behind Ashford for the 25th position.

This is the first time the team has received votes in the poll since the fifth poll of 2010 (Oct. 5) when they received one point.  The Griffins were last in the top 25 on Sept. 14, 2010 when they 15th in the second poll of that season.

Massey Ratings
Westminster is rated as the No. 36 team in the country according to the Massey Ratings that were released on Monday.  The Griffins have a rating of 0.524 and climbed 43 positions from the previous week.  They sit as the second highest rated team from their unaffiliated conference, trailing just Great Falls in 24th.

The Massey Ratings are compiled each week with new ranking being released on Mondays.  Kenneth Massey is the creator of the rating formula and all ratings can be found on his web site at www.masseyratings.com.

Among the Best
Westminster head coach Chris Dorich enters his 28th season at the helm of the program.  He has totaled 249 wins in his career and ranks 25th in NAIA history in that category.  Dorich also ranks 10th in career victories among active NAIA coaches.

The New Griffins TV
Westminster, along with the Victory Sports Network, have created a channel on Livestream to become the new online streaming home of the Westminster Griffins. The new Griffins TV channel can be found at WestminsterGriffins.com or at Livestream.com/griffins and will stream five men's soccer home games this fall.

Unaffiliated Conference
The NAIA approved the creation of a second Unaffiliated Conference that included the teams of the Frontier Conference and four teams from the Association of Independent Institutions.  The new conference will feature: Embry-Riddle (Ariz.), Great Falls (Mont.), Jamestown College (N.D.), Marymount University (Calif.), Rocky Mountain (Mont.), Soka University (Calif.) and Westminster.

The conference tournament will be held at Dumke Field in November.  The top four ranked teams will qualify for the tournament with two semi-final games on November 11 and the championship on November 12.