By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION
Fort Hays State men’s soccer netted three goals on Thursday night in their victory over Oklahoma Baptist, 3-1. The home match win marks the 21st consecutive victory at the FHSU Soccer Stadium for the Tigers.
Fort Hays State had controlled the majority of the play from the opening kickoff. Santiago Agudelo began the scoring for the Tigers. In the 28th minute, Mauricio Etcheverry sent a cross into the box, finding an Agudelo sprinting to the near post. The senior forward finished off the play with a diving header to redirect the ball into the back of the net.
Just three minutes later, Agudelo collected another mark on the score sheet. From midfield, Agudelo sent a through ball to Arsenio Chamorro, who was pressuring the back line of the Bison defense. Seeing that Chamorro was set free, the striker followed the play and was ultimately rewarded on a smooth grounded cross from Chamorro to put the Tigers up, 2-0.
Coming out of halftime, Oklahoma Baptist began going downfield with the wind and the Bison’s pressure increased aggressively through the second half. Only taking two shots in the first half, Oklahoma Baptist rebounded by adding another 11 in the final 45 minutes. In the 72nd minute, the Bison’s managed to grab a goal of their own. Alejandro Castillo fired his shot from 35-yards past the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Kieran Brown and into the top right corner of the goal.
Now only at a one goal deficit, Oklahoma Baptist added even more intensity to their play. However, this intensity was handled well by the Tiger’s back four of McCain, Bevis, Walther, and Benitez. In the 84th minute, FHSU turned their defensive prowess into offensive poise. Senior Ross Boyd beat his defender down the sideline and swung a grounded cross around the Bison’s defenders, who were sprinting to attempt to get back into position. Boyd’s cross reached the feet of Alonso Rodriguez who tapped the ball in for the final goal of the night.
With the victory, the Tigers improve to 6-3-1 overall and 5-0-1 in the Great American Conference.
Fort Hays State totaled nine shots on Thursday night and four saves by Brown at the other end of the field.
In his 86 minutes of play, Agudelo, who netted his ninth goal of the season on Thursday night, moves into the top-five of goal scorers across the entirety of Division II.
FHSU will be back in action on Saturday (Oct. 10) when they travel to Bethany, Okla. to go head-to-head with Southern Nazarene. That match is slated for a 4 p.m. kickoff