BY DAVID JINRIGHT
PHOTOS BY LAUREN HUYNH
The FHSU Men’s Soccer team is off to a hot start this season, and carried that success to the pitch Thursday night. At 5-2-1 start to the season, including a 2-0 start in conference play this season, the Tigers earned their first conference victory was earned last Saturday at #23 Rogers State by a tally of 3-1. The 15th-ranked Tigers hosted only their second home game of the season Thursday night and continued their success with a 7-1 victory over Ouachita Baptist University.
During the game with OBU, the Tigers took a total of 30 shots and scored seven goals while only giving up 1 defensively. When asked about the offensive explosion, FHSU Head Coach Gerry Cleary was pleased with the effort his team put forth.
“We attack the game the same way, we wear teams down. Right now we are sort of buzzing, and the lads are working hard and they were excited to play at home,” he said.
The seven-goal explosion started in just the 8th minute when Antonio De La Torre sent a header into the back of the net. By the 20th minute of play, Fort Hays State jumped on the scoreboard again with a goal from Gonzalo Bazan. Again, early on in the second half, the Tigers scored three times in the first 17 minutes of the second half.
Goals came from Taisei Arima in the 53rd minute, along with Blake Arndt scoring in the 57th minute, and Gonzalo Bazan again scoring in the 62nd minute. OBU scored in the 67th minute off a great cross to Joseph Lattier.
FHSU went on to score two more goals in the final 20 minutes, Tyler Lockhart in the 75th minute and Taisei Arima again in the 86th minute of play to wrap up the contest 7-1.
The Tigers have played a total of eight games this year with only two games at home. Cleary said having games at home comes as a welcome change for his team.
“They were excited to sleep in their own beds last night prior to the game today,” Cleary said.
Following Thursday’s home game with Ouachita Baptist University, the Tigers will host Harding University (0-4-1) at 1 p.m. on homecoming Saturday. The last time Harding was in Hays, they held a 2-0 lead at halftime before the Tigers rallied back to win 3-2.
