Photo by Lizzie Caron
McPherson, Kan. – The Central Christian College men's soccer team took a brief break from Sooner Athletic Conference play on Saturday evening for a non-conference game with the Dallas Christian College Crusaders that had NCCAA regional implications.
The Crusaders came into the match winless on the season, but are much more talented than their record would suggest. The Tigers dictated the pace as well as the style of play, but the Crusaders were not a pushover. They made the Tigers earn everything they got, which turned out to be a 5-0 victory.
The game remained knotted at 0-0 through the midway point of the opening half. In the 25th minute, the Tigers broke the scoreless tie when Marco Cherchi beat his defender down the left side got the corner and fed a ball across the top of the six yard box where Drew Schrader was waiting to finish.
With time running out in the first half, the Tigers struck again. Similar to the first goal except on the right side of the pitch. Camilo Penefiel beat his defender to the corner played a ball near post where Nick Arenare stepped over the ball with his left foot and slotted the ball far post with his trailing foot.
In the second half the Tigers had possession for a vast majority of the time, simply content to work the ball from side to side looking for the perfect moment to move forward. They found numerous opportunities to press forward, and connected on three of them. Thirteen minutes into the frame, goal keeper Sebastian Herrera sent a long ball down the right side that caught Johnny Rodriguez in stride he played a one touch ball forward to Mattia Cola who fired the ball past the DCC net minder.
Twenty-one minutes later, Cherchi was on the receiving end of a nifty cross from Ayobami Onifade. He collected the ball, took a touch to his right and beat the goal keeper near post to put the Tigers up 4-0. Forty-five seconds later Cherchi picked up his second assist of the game, feeding a lofted ball across the six yard box where Rodriguez was waiting to head the ball into the back of the net.
The Tigers outshot the Crusaders 26 to 9 and 10 to 3 in shots on frame. Hererra saved all three shots he faced. The only one that had any real scare factor came in the first half. A DCC attacker fired a missile from outside the 18 yard box. Herrera had a bead on it, but it deflected off a Tiger defender forcing him to change directions turning a routine save into a spectacular one.
Coach Hoxie commented on the win saying, "Real proud of all my guys tonight. This could have been a real problem for us after coming off an emotional ending last night vs WBU. But the guys were able to recover well, and of course, perform well. Was happy to see all of our 5 goal scorers register a goal tonight. It's important for these guys to see the ball go in the net, especially with 2 weeks left in conference play. Hopefully the confidence will transfer. Dallas Christian is very good. The score was bloated and definitely not indicative of their level. With one more recruiting cycle, this team is going to be a contender in their division."
Before kick-off, the Tigers honored seniors Noah Banderas and Lucas Ferreira de Carvalho who will graduate next May.
The win puts the Tigers a 7-3-4 overall. They will return to conference play next week when they travel to Chickasha, Oklahoma on Wednesday for a 7:30 match-up with the USAO Drovers.
