By CAYDEN SANDERS
Tiger Media Network
The Fort Hays State Men’s Soccer team (12-0-3, 8-0-1) currently leads in the Great American Conference standings, but can claim the GAC regular season championship for the first time since 2019 this weekend against Oachita Baptist and Harding.
“These teams might not be in the conference tournament race anymore, but these teams have nothing to lose [but] to play spoiler,” FHSU Head Coach Alex Nichols said. “Ouachita Baptist just tied Southern Nazarene, and that game has a huge outcome in who claims the third or fourth spot in the conference. So we need to come out focused in both games.”
FHSU moved up one spot to No. 4 in this week’s United Soccer Coaches rankings; however, for senior defender Jackson Elgas, rankings don’t mean anything.
“We have a lot to go; just because we are in the top five teams in the nation does not mean anything. We still have goals to go out and accomplish, and hosting the GAC Tournament is one of them,” Elgas said.
FHSU travels to Arkadelphia, Arkansas to face Ouachita Baptist (3-8-3, 1-6-1) on Thursday. OBU is coming off a 2-1 senior-day victory that came in a non-conference contest against Dallas Christian.
The Tigers will finish their road trip against Harding (2-10-2, 0-7-1) on Saturday. The Bison have been in five one-score games in conference play. Earlier this month, the Tigers defeated Harding 5-0 at FHSU Soccer Stadium.
“These games are important to us, and we have to treat them like they are the best in the conference,” senior midfielder Tadhg Walsh said. “It does not matter who we play, we just have to come in with the mentality that they are better than us, because we have to come out with some attitude, and be organized.”
As FHSU hopes to secure the No. 1 seed in the GAC tournament, the Tigers have 25 points, and Rogers State follows with 20 points. Only the top four teams in the regular season make it to the GAC Tournament.
Looking ahead to NCAA postseason play, FHSU was named as a team under consideration in the first release of the NCAA Super Region 3 rankings. Super Region 3 includes teams from the GAC, Great Midwest Athletic Conference, Great Lakes Valley Conference, and the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Teams that earn top seeds in each super region will host NCAA postseason games, something FHSU hasn’t done since 2018, when the Tigers advanced to the National Semifinals. Nichols said the team certainly wants to host postseason games, but must take one step at a time.
“We just have to focus on us and what we do,” he said. “Of course, with us wanting to host, you have to worry where everyone is in the region. If we take care of business and focus on each game at a time, we should be able to host a couple of regional games.”
With just three regular-season games remaining on the schedule, the senior class on this year’s team is realizing how little time they have left to suit up for the Tigers.
“Recently, I have been finding myself counting how many games we have left, and how many more practices,” Elgas said. “I never thought that when I committed to Fort Hays State that it would come to an end sooner than now.”
FHSU and Ouachita Baptist will play at 3 p.m. today and the Tigers and Bison will play an early-morning match on Saturday, with first touch set for 9 a.m. With two wins, FHSU can claim its fourth regular-season conference championship.
“These teams are good on the road with great competition, so in theory, they should be good at home,” Nichols said. “We know what we have to do to be ready for games like this; we just have to execute.”