HOUSTON – HBU couldn't stop Air Force's Austin Dewling, as he scored one goal in each half of the Falcons' 2-0 victory over the Huskies in the Western Athletic Conference soccer opener at Sorrels Field Friday night.
"Tonight was a tough game," head coach
Steve Jones said. "Our boys fought hard against a very tough team. I think this is one of Air Force's best team they have had in over the past four or five years."
It only took Austin Dewling 12 minutes into the match to get one in the back of the net as he was delivered a cross from Tucker Bone from the left and struck the ball on his first touch to give the Falcons (7-3-0, 1-0-0 WAC) a 1-0 lead. In the 55
th minute of the match, sophomore defender
Bryan Brody saved the ball from crossing the goal line to keep the 1-0 deficit. It wasn't until the 76
th minute Dewling struck again, increasing the lead to 2-0.
"We gave up a goal in the first half that we didn't do a good job of marking up tighter at the back post. We did some very good things in the first half just couldn't get the end product. The second half the boys fought hard, we had some big saves from Chance in the second half as well as our defense came up big a few times as well. This allowed us to stay in the game and create some very good chances of our own. Unfortunately we gave up the second goal with about 15 minutes left. I'm proud of the boys. They didn't quit when the second goal was scored. They went at Air Force hard for the final 15 minutes and just couldn't find the back of the net. You hate to lose any game, especially at home, but our work rate, team defending as well as our attack down the stretch were much improved from a few weeks ago."
The Huskies were led offensively by junior midfielder Marc-Anthone with two shots on goal out of the teams three. Sophomore goalkeeper
Chance Pope took the loss as he made five saves with two goals against.
Trey Pujats and Austin Dewling did the offensive work for the Falcons as they both recorded two shots on goal, out of the teams eight. John Wendt earned the win in goal as he made three saves and kept the shutout.
"It's now time to quickly refocus and get ready to travel to Kansas City to play our second conference match of the weekend against UMKC," Jones said. "Hopefully we can build on the effort from tonight and find a way to get a result on Sunday."
The Huskies will go on the road to Kansas City, Missouri, to take on WAC member Kansas City Sunday at 5 p.m. and will return home to Sorrels Field Thursday to face Grand Canyon at 7 p.m.
