By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION
On the hinges of a 14-game regular season win streak, No. 3 Fort Hays State men’s soccer program edged out a 3-0 victory over Rockhurst on Thursday night.
Coming off of an MIAA Championship and their first appearance in the national semifinal, the Tigers and new head coach Gerry Cleary are now 1-0 on the regular season.
After a heart-breaking end to the 2018 campaign, the Tigers returned eight players who earned All-MIAA honors as well as National Player of the Year, Santiago Agudelo.
Joey McCain scored the opening goal of the 2019 campaign off of a corner kick that was fiercely grounded to his feet by Sergio Villalba. McCain took a pair of touches at the top of 18-yard box before striking it past goalkeeper Peter Baker’s right hand side.
The Tigers led into halftime and sprung out of the gates swiftly. Arsenio Chamorro took a shot on goal in the 49th minute that was blocked in front of the net. Off of the block, the ball fell to find the feet of a streaking Villalba who tucked it away for the Tigers second goal of the game.
In the 75th minute, Fort Hays earned a throw-in just in front of the Rockhurst bench. Midfielder Ross Boyd reared back and fired the ball into the box and found the head of Alonso Rodriguez for the final goal of the night.
While the Tiger offense was firing in the opening night win, the defense also held a strong back line led by Moritz Walther and Alec Bevis who played the full 90 minutes. Senior goalkeeper Cullen Fisch made five saves and kept a clean sheet for the black and gold.
As a team, the home side took 23 shots and hit the target 11 times.
With the victory, Fort Hays State is now 2-2-2 All-Time against the two-time (2017-2018) preseason No. 3, Rockhurst. The Tigers will on the road for the first time in 2019 to take on Eastern New Mexico State on Sunday. In the four matches that these two sides have faced off, they have split the series with two victories a piece.