By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION
The No. 24 ranked Fort Hays State men’s soccer team defeated No. 16 ranked Northeastern State 2-1 on Saturday (Oct. 1). The teams traded scores early in the first half, but the Tigers found the net once more in the waning minutes of the match to secure the win. FHSU improved to 7-2-3 (5-0-1 GAC), while NSU took its second loss of the season and fell to 5-2-2 (3-1-1 GAC).
The RiverHawks took an early lead as a shot from Flynn Semerling was saved by Kieran Brown and deflected to Miguel Torres who drove the ball into the net in the 11th minute. FHSU found the equalizer in the 15th minute when a well-executed chain of passes from Ethan Doud to Sean Thomson found Blake Arndt who sent a missile past the keeper inside the box for his sixth score of the season. At the end of the first half, the Tigers had the edge in the shot battle 5-4 and both keepers had a pair of saves.
In the second half, the RiverHawks were much more active on offense taking 12 shots and placed six on goal. Both squads put together several charges down the field, but were unable to find the net. In the 89th minute, the Tigers finally broke through on a throw in from Jackson Elgas, redirected by Callum Frogson to Tyler Lockhart who snuck the ball past the keeper to secure the win for the Tigers.
NSU held the advantage with 16 shots compared to 11 by FHSU. Kieran Brown posted a stellar performance between the posts collecting nine saves compared to three by NSU keeper Niklas Kirhoff.
With the win, the Tigers sit alone atop the GAC/MIAA standings with 16 points generated so far. The Tigers will play only one match next week when they travel to Wichita on Saturday (Oct. 8) to take on Newman University at 3 p.m.