BY CAYDEN SANDERS
The Fort Hays State men’s soccer team welcomed the No. 19 Rogers State Hillcats to Hays on Thursday. The two teams were competing for a chance to host the Great American Conference post-season tournament with a win on Thursday; however, both teams struggled to put the ball past the keepers and tied nil-nil.
“We played a really good team tonight, I think there were some good moments and some bad moments but in the end, we did not get the job done,” FHSU Head Coach Gerry Cleary said.
In the final week of the regular season, three teams were in the race to host the GAC conference tournament on November 4th and 6th – Rogers State, Fort Hays State, and Southern Nazarene. For FHSU to host, the team needed to win the match against Rogers State to have a chance with a one-match lead over the other two contenders.
While the Tiger seniors helped push FHSU on the pitch, they couldn’t get over the hump of scoring a goal. In goal, senior keeper Kieran Brown claimed the top spot on the all-time FHSU saves list, passing Kent Freund with 202 career saves.
On the offensive end, fellow senior Blake Arndt found himself on the attack often during the game but could not help the Tigers attack to get off open shots or set up one on one with the Hillcats keeper. However, a lack of scoring didn’t stop the senior from reflecting on his time as a Tiger.
“It’s always great to be a Tiger, the tradition here is to win, win, win, and I came to Hays to uphold that standard,” Arndt said. “It’s hard to leave this place with me being here so long, but I have loved every minute of it.”
The Tigers finish the regular season with an 8-4-6 record. FHSU will likely finish third in the regular season of the GAC season and be the third seed in the tournament and are likely to face the Hillcats next Friday.