HOUSTON – HBU soccer produced one goal per half to come away with a 2-0 victory over Incarnate Word on Senior Night in a Western Athletic Conference matchup in the home finale at Sorrels Field on Sunday Night.
"This was a great win for the boys tonight," head coach
Steve Jones said. "We scored a great goal in the first half and then when struggling to keep the ball, our boys did a great job of defending. Our back line along with our midfielders did a great job of breaking up their opportunities to score. Chance (Pope) was once again called upon to make some big saves to keep us in the game."
In the first half, UIW (4-8-3, 2-4-2 WAC) outshot the Huskies (5-10-1, 3-6-0 WAC) 17-3 with seven of those shots on goal. HBU put one shot on goal and it was enough to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead in the 15
th minute. Senior defender
Kenneth Shonaike passed to sophomore midfielder
Darrell Johnson on the right side of the field as the Huskies entered their offensive half. He then threaded the ball to freshman forward
Malik Key, who dribbled past his defender and beat the keeper near post and found the left side netting.
The Huskies got back on the field for the second half with a more offensive mind set as they outshot the Cardinals, 12-5 with seven on goal. Junior midfielder Marc-Anthone was the Husky to increase the lead to two goals as he took a shot from the left and drove it low to get past the diving goalkeeper. The combination by freshman midfielder
Dequan Thomas to Johnson was what got the ball to Marc-Anthone. The Huskies had a chance to increase their lead again in the final seconds of the match, but the shot was saved.
"I thought that our second half was far better in possession and creating some great scoring chances and it paid off in getting a second goal," Jones commented "I was proud of the boys in their work rate and sacrifice on the field tonight. We have been playing well lately and it is nice to finally come out on the right side of the result department, especially when your season is on the line. The boys deserved this win. Now it's time to do it one more time. We will start preparing right away to go get a road win in Bakersfield and secure our spot in the WAC tournament."
Sophomore forward
Lucas de Paula and senior midfielder
Erick Aragon led the Huskies with two shots on goal each. Key, Marc-Anthone, junior midfielder
Jose Sicilia, and freshman forward
Justin Martin each had one shot on goal to round out the Huskies' eight. Sophomore goalkeeper
Chance Pope was asked to make nine saves to keep the shutout win.
UIW was led offensively by Fernando Laverde, who had three of the Cardinals nine shots on goal. Jorge Guzman took home the loss in the net after making six saves with two goals against.
The Huskies are on the road for the final Western Athletic Conference regular-season match as they travel to Bakersfield, California, Saturday to take on CSU Bakersfield at 9 p.m. CDT.
