By CAYDEN SANDERS
Tiger Media Network
The Fort Hays State Men’s Soccer team (11-0-2, 7-0) currently sits atop the GAC/MIAA standings, but two teams are hoping to get a signature conference win against FHSU as Southern Nazarene (5-5-2, 3-3-1) and No. 17 Rogers State (9-1-3, 5-1-1) will square off against the No. 5 Tigers this weekend in Hays.
“They know that we are leading in the conference standings, and they want to make the conference race tight,” FHSU Head Coach Alex Nichols said. “It is always tough to beat a team twice, and when we played RV. Northeastern State, we lost a little focus, so if we can figure out how to not lose sight of playing our best, we are going to be fine.”
On Thursday, the Tigers welcome Southern Nazarene to FHSU Soccer Stadium. The Crimson Storm have been the GAC regular season champions for the last three seasons, and were tournament champions in 2022 and 2023. The Tigers narrowly defeated the Crimson Storm 2-1 earlier this month on the road, and 4 of SNU’s 7 conference matches have been one-goal losses.
“They are definitely a tough team; they are the defending regular season champions for a reason,” senior midfielder Joseph Street said. “If they are able to keep it close with us at their place, they know how to play with the best; they have just been on the wrong side of results.”
On Saturday, the Tigers welcome Rogers State, who will try to avenge their 4-0 home loss to FHSU on October 2. Last weekend, the Hillcats tied Ouachita Baptist, giving FHSU a five-point lead going into the weekend.
With that five-point conference lead, FHSU just needs a single tie to clinch a berth in the postseason conference tournament. The Tigers can secure the No. 1 seed and the right to host the conference tournament with a win and a tie this weekend.
FHSU has also been steadily climbing in the United Soccer Coaches Polls since the pre-season. In the first poll, the Tigers were No. 23 now the Tigers are No. 5, the highest the program has been since 2018/2019. FHSU was No. 4 in the final poll of 2018 and No. 3 in the preseason poll in 2019.
“It is great that we are considered to be the No. 5 team in the nation, but we do not want to stop there. We have a lot more fight; we want to get to our goal of hosting the conference and regionals,” Street said. “We definitely could get there, we just have to keep winning.”
“It is awesome that we keep moving up,” Nichols said. “I think it is a testament to the hard work of this team, and to get that recognition. But, we all know that there are jobs to still do and goals we still want to accomplish.”
For the players, this season is about a sense of pride and love for the university and the community.
“We may come from all over, but the way that the university supports us in our endeavors to get an education, while playing the sport we love, is an awesome feeling that we appreciate,” sophomore defender and England native Oliver Wright said. “This community supports us, we love seeing people in the stands at our games or even doing whatever in the community, people are showing love to us.”
The Tigers are getting goals from all over the pitch, not just from conference leader Elias Ovelar Semeniuk – who has 10 goals – but from Wright, who has scored 5 goals in the last four games for FHSU. Wright is tied with Juan Linares for third on the team in total goals scored. Bastian Carlman has scored 6 times for the second most on the squad.
As a defender, Wright spoke about the level of aggressiveness this team plays with.
“Every nationality plays football differently, but this team gets excited for throw-ins and corners and set pieces because most teams think that is a time to get a breather,” Wright said. “We look to capitalize on teams being lazy and not getting back to defend. Joseph (Street) does an awesome job throwing the ball into the box and giving us opportunities.”
Wright is on a hot streak and has collected back-to-back GAC Offensive Player of the Week honors. This week, Wright gets to play in front of his parents, who traveled 4,500 miles from Kings Hill, England, to watch their son play.
“I got to see them last season, when I did not play much. This season, we are playing well, and we are on a roll as a team,” Wright said. “Being away from home is tough, but having them come here, seeing what my life is like, and what the Hays community is like compared to home is so meaningful to me.”
FHSU and Southern Nazarene will play at 6 p.m. tonight. First kick against Rogers State is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday. Both games will be at FHSU Soccer Stadium.
“It is going to be a tough stretch of games this week. We stole both games from them at their place. We know that they want to take a win from us at our place,” Street said. “We know who we are as a team, we just need to keep growing together to be the strong team we know we can be.”