By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION
WICHITA FALLS, Texas – Fort Hays State made a late rally to turn an 2-0 deficit into a 2-2 tie with Texas A&M-International on Saturday (Sept. 10). First goals of the season by Jackson Elgas and Tyler Lockhart helped the Tigers move to 2-2-2 overall on the season, while the Dustdevils moved to 1-3-1 on the season.
Fort Hays State fell behind early when the Dustdevils scored within the first six minutes of the game on the foot of Lassana Diakite. He struck again with just four remaining on the clock before halftime when a pass found its way through to him in a one-on-one situation with Tiger goalkeeper Kieran Brown. The Tigers found themselves trailing 2-0 at the half. TAMIU produced 12 shots in the first half compared to just four by FHSU.
The Tigers started to find opportunities late in the match and finally broke through in the 80th minute when Ethan Doud threaded a nice pass to Jackson Elgas, who was in good shooting position in the box. Elgas rifled a shot past the TAMIU keeper, cutting the deficit in half.
Just a few minutes later, the Tigers struck again when Tadhg Walsh sent a long pass into the box and Tyler Lockhart made a golden strike with a bicycle-like flick over his head that found the net with the TAMIU keeper out of position. The Tigers won the shot battle in the second half with nine shots compared to four by the Dustdevils.
Ben Dixon played the final 45 minutes of the contest in goal for the Tigers and had to make one save to keep the Dustdevils scoreless in the second half. Brown made four saves in the first half, despite seeing TAMIU find the net twice. Robin Verhoeven made four saves and played all 90 minutes in net for TAMIU.
The Tigers will now prepare for their 12-match conference slate that remains. It starts next week with a road contest at Rogers State on Thursday (Sept. 15) and then a home match with Newman on Saturday (Sept. 17).