Photo by Lizzie Caron
Waxahachie, Texas – After a disappointing loss on Thursday night to the Texas Wesleyan University Rams, the Central Christian College men's soccer team bounced back on Saturday to wrap up the regular season with a 2-0 win over Southwestern Assemblies of God University.
In the opening half, the Tigers created the vast majority of the scoring chances. The SAGU Lions' strategy was to look to capitalize on the Tiger mistakes. They had one good look in the first half, but squandered it. The Tigers' pressed forward at any and all moments, peppering the Lion goal with shots, but couldn't get any to tickle the nylon. Their best opportunity came when Nicholas Arenare rattled the post on one of his drives.
In the second half, the Tigers had the wind at their backs which helped them control the possession even more. The Tigers finally got on the board in the 62nd Minute when Manuel Tadeo collected a Lion punt in the midfield. He beat two defenders, played a give and go pass with Jeremy McClain and slotted the ball past the Lion goal keeper.
Fifteen minutes later, the Tigers struck again. This time Marco Cherchi connected with Lucas Charife on the left wing inside the 18 yard box. Lucas then served the ball across the box to the back post where Johnny Rodrigues was waiting to tap it in.
Sebastian Herrera was in goal for the Tigers picking up the win. He faced three shots on goal and saved all three. Center backs, Tyler Hoxie and Riccardo Di Vincenzo did a bang up job of thwarting any and all Lion attacks throughout the game to help preserve the clean sheet.
Coach Hoxie summed up the win saying, "It was good to get a win out of that trip. I felt like we should have gotten a result on Thursday, but since we didn't, I was worried a little bit about our mental state of belief. We started the game off a bit slow, had loads of touches, minimal effective movement, and we were sloppy with the ball coming out of the back. Our turnovers led to chances, and I thought that we were going to be down at half as a result. It was that type of game. Credit to the boys however, they came out in the second half and absolutely poured it on. It seemed like every attack led to a chance or half chance, a shot, or some dangerous move, and it was only a matter of time I felt. Once we got the first goal, you could feel a sense of relief amongst the traveling supporters and players. I'm not surprised that we got the second a few minutes later, but I am surprised that we didn't turn this into four or five. Again, our lack of clinicality in front of goal was a bit annoying, to say the least. I am happy with how the conference season went, although, I think there are several games where we could have gotten a result. It seems like we just began, but we are healthy, and ready for the post season run in. I am hoping that it is not two short games but that we can make a deep run again."
With the win, the Tigers finish the regular season at 9-5-4 overall, and 4-4-2 overall. With the win they secure a spot in the SAC tournament as 7 seed. They will travel to play Southwestern Christian University on Saturday in a 2:00 pm match-up. The Tigers and Eagles tied 0-0 in their regular season match-up a few weeks ago.
