Story by ELI BLANKINSHIP Photos by MEGAN BARR
Tiger Media Network
After being upset by the now-ranked No. 20 Regis Rangers 1-0 on Saturday night, Fort Hays State men’s soccer bounced back with a 2-0 home victory over the William Jewel Cardinals on Wednesday.
“They’re competitive, so they want to win,” Head Coach Alex Nichols said. “There’s a lot of new, but we’re growing, and we didn’t give Regis much. The opportunity we gave up to Regis was a gift, and so for the most part, we’re playing pretty good defense. Offensively, we need to start executing better because we’re not capitalizing near enough, so that part’s disappointing but it’ll come. The guys are pretty motivated and they’re working hard.”
It took 36 minutes for the Tigers’ Kyle Clayton to find the back of the net just moments after he was subbed into the match. FHSU added an insurance goal in the 81st minute when returner Mario Leal Vales scored to secure the 2-0 victory.
“I think after Regis, of course, there were some heads down, but realistically, everybody was just fired up,” said freshman right back Muhammed Sarwar. “The way we had to hear them screaming on our field and celebrating, yelling in the locker rooms, we all just hated that.”
Sarwar and freshman left back Julius Petersson have started in all three of FHSU’s matches and have been crucial additions to the roster for FHSU’s defense.
“I don’t know if I could separate Muhammad and Julius,” Nichols said. “They’re both doing really good at right and left back. Both freshmen, both young, and they’re doing really good. They’re stepping up, and they had some growing pains in preseason, but they learned quick, and that’s what good players fight to do to know what they have to do to get better, and both of those guys are really motivated, really hardworking.”
After playing their first three matches at home, FHSU now has a three-game road trip ahead of them before the start of GAC play on September 17.
“Our mindset is the exact same as it is here,” Sarwar said. “People are coming in and trying to take points from us. We’re going to do the exact same thing to them, and we’re going in with the mindset that it’s not our home field, it’s not our environment, but we are who we are, and we’re going to continue to do what we do, which is win: just being on the road doesn’t stop us.”
Fort Hays State will play Fort Lewis at 2 pm CST on Sunday in Alamosa, Colorado, before a two-game stint in Texas next weekend.