By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION
The FHSU Men’s Soccer team produced a blowout win over Ouachita Baptist 7-1 on Thursday (Sept. 30) at FHSU Soccer Stadium. The 15th-ranked Tigers scored two goals in the first half and then added five in the second, while Ouachita Baptist notched their only goal midway through the second half. The Tigers improved to 5-2-1 (2-0 GAC) and OBU falls to 0-6-1 (0-3 GAC).
FHSU got on the board early as Nicolas Cortes placed a corner kick perfectly inside the box where Antonio De La Torre headed the ball in near the back post during the 8th minute. The Tigers found the net again in the 25th minute as Gonzalo Bazan was able to cash in a goal off a pass from Viktor Robertsson. FHSU took 16 shots and put six on target in the first half.
Not satisfied with the lead 2-0 lead, FHSU added on in the 53rd minute when Taisei Arima dribbled around defenders and sent a rocket past the keeper from outside the top of the box, extending the lead to three. Then in the 58th minute, Tiger scoring leader Blake Arndt took a cross from De La Torre and headed it in for his fifth goal of the season. In the 61st minute, Bazan added his second goal of the night scoring off of a chain of passes from Arndt and De La Torre, extending the lead to 5-0.
The lone Ouachita Baptist goal occurred in the 68th minute on a nice chain of passes leading to a chip in by Joseph Lattier on the right edge of the goal.
The rest of the match was all FHSU as Tyler Lockhart received a beautiful pass from Chris Rios-Cruz over the top, settled the ball near the top of the box, spun and sent a laser past the keeper in the 75th minute. With less than five minutes left in the match Arima added his second goal of the night by recovering a blocked shot by Eleuterio Gutierrez and chipping it in, pushing the score to the eventual final of 7-1. The Tigers finished with 31 shots compared to 10 by OBU. Keeper Kieran Brown added another win to his record as he posted three saves in just under 58 minutes. When the FHSU lead reached 4-0, Ben Dixon took over between the pipes and allowed the only goal for OBU. Dixon recorded two saves. Bazan, Arima and Lockhart notched their first goals of the season in the contest
Fort Hays will be back in action at home on Saturday (Oct. 2) as the Bisons from Harding University come to town. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 pm at FHSU Soccer Stadium.