PHOENIX, Arizona – Houston Christian University got a wonderful first-half goal and made it stand up, holding off a hard-charging Grand Canyon University 1-0 at GCU Stadium on Monday night.
GCU came out aggressive, pushing the tempo and leveling shots on the HCU defense. The Lopes had a stretch of three shots on target in a two-minute span ending in the 16th
minute, but were denied each time by
Harvey Heeps.
The Huskies put their first good attempt on target in the 18th minute, as
Ryan Okerayi's shot was saved by Beltran Fernandez. The Lopes would continue to push the pace, and nearly came up with the opening tally in the 32nd minute, but Bradley DeJesus shot rattled off the post.
Just seconds later, HCU was awarded a free kick, and
Harvey Heeps launched a long pass that covered three quarters of the pitch. The ball whistled its way through traffic and onto the feet of
Clarenns Sainrimat, who took one more touch to his right before smashing a shot across the face of Fernandez to the bottom left corner for the games first score just a second into the 33rd minute.
Heeps would make two more big stops in the final two minutes of the half, as HCU headed to the intermission with the 1-0 advantage.
The Lopes would continue the offensive pressure in the second frame, but the Huskies were up to the task defensively, with Heeps making a trio of stops late in the half to hold the hosts at bay.
HCU was outshot 27-7, including 11-3 on goal and GCU earned nine corners to just three for the Huskies.
Clarenns Sainrimat opened his blue and orange account with his first goal of the season.
Ryan Okerayi had a pair of shots, one on target.
Harvey Heeps got his first career assist on the kick to Sainrimat, and also had a career-high nine saves in posting his second clean sheet of the campaign.
Grand Canyon (2-3) had eight different players register two shots or more, led by Jorge Lopez with four, two on target.
HCU is now 2-3-1 overall. The Huskies will break from action for the next nine days, returning to the pitch on Wednesday, September 16 when they host Florida Gulf Coast University at Sorrels Field.
#DawgsUp
