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CANYON, Texas – The Buffaloes of West Texas A&M return to the friendly confines of the Buffalo Sports Park on Thursday night as they host the Newman Jets in Heartland Conference action starting at 7 p.m. at The Pitch in Canyon.
 
NEWMAN
The Jets enter the weekend with an overall record of 3-3 with an 0-2 mark in Heartland Conference action following a 3-1 loss in Wichita Falls on Saturday night against top-ranked MSU Texas.
 
NU is coming off of a 4-10-4 campaign in 2017 where they finished the Heartland Conference schedule at 2-9-3 overall. Newman is in their final season of Heartland Conference play as the LSC/Heartland are set to merge entering the 2019-20 school year.
 
Cliff Brown is in his 31st season at the helm at Newman University as he has led the Jets to an overall record of 277-284-38.
 
THE SERIES
Thursday night will mark the sixth overall meeting on the pitch between the Buffs and Jets as WT holds the 4-0-1 lead dating back to 2010. Newman is 0-3 all-time inside of the Buffalo Sports Park in Canyon.
 
THE LAST MEETING
West Texas A&M dominated the attack to the tune of a 12-4 lead in shots and a 7-1 lead in shots on goal, but were unable to come up with the breakthrough goal in a 0-0 tie against the Jets back on October 7, 2017 at Maize High School in Wichita, Kansas.
 
The match was physical as usual in the series as the teams combined for 33 fouls and five yellow cards as Newman had 20 fouls in the match with three yellow cards and the Buffs had 13 fouls with two yellow cards.
 
HEARTLAND CONFERENCE PRESEASON POLL
MSU Texas was tabbed atop of the Heartland Conference Preseason Poll announced on August 21st. The Mustangs picked up 22 of the possible 24 first place votes for 285 points followed by St. Edward's (one first place, 254), West Texas A&M (one first place, 241), Texas A&M-International (203), St. Mary's (176), Rogers State (157), UT Permian Basin (140), Lubbock Christian (120), Newman (94), Dallas Baptist (90), Eastern New Mexico (68) and Oklahoma Christian (44).
 
PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
WT seniors Troy Reeves, Julio Vargas and Ivan Ulloa were named to the 2018 Heartland Conference Men's Soccer Preseason Team announced on August 21st. WT has finished third in a loaded conference the past two seasons with a pair of appearances in the Heartland Conference Tournament.
 
Twelve Heartland men's soccer players were named to the 2018 Heartland Men's Soccer Preseason All-Heartland Team. Reigning Freshman of the Year Carlos Flores lead a group of three Midwestern State players that includes fellow midfielder Sebastian Venegas and defender Alex Mullet. St. Edward's duo Dylan Armstrong and Cody Spitzer were named to the team for the Hilltoppers. Texas A&M International defender Luis Diaz and 2017 First Team All-Heartland selection in goalkeeper Carlos Herrera both represented the Dustdevils. St. Mary's and UT Permian Basin each earned one Preseason All-Heartland selection in Pato Botello Faz (StMU) and Stefan Faria (UTPB).
 
WT HEAD COACH BUTCH LAUFFER
Butch Lauffer enters his 28th season as head men's soccer coach at West Texas A&M. Lauffer is now the longest tenured head coach in West Texas A&M history in a storied career dating back to 1991. Lauffer reached the 500-win plateau on September 30th of last season in Odessa, Texas with a dominating 13-2 win over UT Permian Basin.
 
During his tenure, Lauffer has coached the men to 26 consecutive non-losing seasons and the women to 12-plus victories in 12 seasons. Lauffer has recorded a 320-146-34 (.661) record at the helm of the Buffs with a 510-213-51 (.680) overall record at WT.