Story by MAYAN PAZ Photos by RORY MOORE
Tiger Media Network
The end of the regular season in the GAC is near, and FHSU men’s soccer took another step toward securing the No.1 seed in the conference tournament after beating Rogers State at FHSU Soccer Stadium on Saturday. The two nationally ranked teams faced off on a rainy day, as an early goal separated the teams and gave the Tigers the 1-0 win.
The FHSU Tigers Men’s Soccer team strolls onto the Soccer Stadium for their match against the Rogers State University Hillcats. 
Cheering for Midfielder Harrison Bensouda during his introduction. 
Huddling up before the match. 
Forward Bastian Carlman intercepts a fumbled Hillcat ball with assistance from Joseph Street. 
Mamadou Oumar Ndiaye executes a corner kick. 
Forward Elias Ovelar Semeniuk kicks the one goal of the match. 
Semeniuk celebrates his scoring move. 
Midfielder Tadhg Walsh leaps toward a Tiger pass. 
Forward Juan Linares dribbles under pressure from Hillcat defense. 
Leaping to capitalize on a corner kick. 
Forward Dylan Ashford slides to catch a loose ball. 
Ashford collides with Alex Fletcher. 
Defender Dimitry Tchantcheu head covers Hillcat offense with Semeniuk at bay. 
Tadhg Walsh and Collin Hershberger set up dual coverage on Rogers State defense. 
Semeniuk protecting the ball to run out the clock. 
The Tigers defeated the Hillcats 1-0 to advance to 12-0-3.
In a match-up between the top two teams in the GAC, No. 5 FHSU (12-0-3, 8-0-1) showed some superiority against No. 17 Rogers State (9-2-4, 5-2-2) at the start of the match. The Tigers made some early attempts against the opposition defense, and after nine minutes, a throw-in by Joseph Street found Harrison Bensouda’s head, deflecting the ball towards Elias Ovelar Semeniuk. The Paraguayan striker found the right angle and, with a sliding shot, beat the Hillcat keeper and gave the Tigers the lead.
In an excellent defensive effort, the Tigers limited Rogers State to 0 first-half shots, making an impressive statement against a nationally ranked team. After the game, FHSU Head Coach Alex Nichols expressed his pride in the defense.
“Our goalie is doing a very good job. Our center backs are doing a great job. Our wing-backs today were exceptional. But, you know, defense starts with the nine. It starts up top. It starts with our wings, and for the most part, they did a really good job,” Nichols said. “The midfield has a lot of space and a lot of ground to cover, and they did their job. So in our system, the way we do things, everybody has to be sharp, everybody has to play good defense, and for the most part, everybody’s doing a pretty dang good job. But there’s still a way to go.”
The second half started with some more opportunities for the Tigers, but they were unable to convert their chances. The Hillcat players, on the other hand, got warmed up in the cold-weather game and started making threats of their own, mainly out of set-pieces and fast-break opportunities. They were unable to find the target, but gave Nichols and the Tigers a few scares, especially with about 15 minutes left, as a header from a Hillcat whistled by the goal post.
Nichols mentioned how important it is to convert chances at a better rate when playing other top teams.
“In soccer, the better team doesn’t always win, and when you leave good teams in games, scary things can happen,” he said. “So we’ve got to be better, and we’ve got to start putting the ball in the back of the net and finishing the opportunities that are crystal clear in front of goal.”
The Tigers managed to hold on to their early lead after Rogers could not find the goal, and after a nerve-wrecking ending, as the ball flew back and forth across the field, threatening to change the score, the final whistle was blown, and the Tigers survived the match. FHSU outshot Rogers State 15-6.
Ovelar Semeniuk now has 11 goals this season, leading the GAC. He said it was very important for the Tigers to get the early go-ahead goal.
“I think for us, it’s always important to open the goal quickly so we can continue doing our job, but I am proud of the team and their effort,” he said. “We are having such an amazing season. So now we need to keep going, to keep working hard, and prepare ourselves for what is coming.”
With the win, the Tigers now have an 8-point lead in the GAC standings with only three games left. FHSU will play all three games on the road against teams from the bottom half of the table and only needs a single point out of nine to secure the regular season title and bring the GAC tournament to FHSU Soccer Stadium. FHSU will play Ouachita Baptist on the road at 3 p.m. on Thursday to try and secure the first seed early.