McPherson, Kan. – The Central Christian College men's soccer team picked up their first Sooner Athletic Conference win on Saturday. The Tigers treated the Homecoming crowd to a 2-0 win over the Oklahoma Panhandle State University Aggies.
It was one of the best overall performances of the year for the men in blue as they dominated the time of possession and nearly all of the statistical categories. The only category the Aggies had the edge in was saves, 4 to 1, because the Tigers outshot them 12 to 3, and shots on goal, 6 to 1.
Both of the Tiger goals came in the opening half, the first coming in the 14th minute when Mattia Cola took a shot that was saved by the Aggie goalkeeper, but the rebound fell right at the feet of Nicholas Arenare who cleaned up the trash. Just over three minutes later, Lucas Chirife, who was dialed in all day with his free kicks, served up a beautiful ball off of a corner kick. Riccardo Di Vincenzo appeared to get just enough of the ball to deflect it off of one of the Aggie defenders into the back of the net.
For the final 73 minutes of the game, the Tigers continued to press forward, but they were more concerned with preserving the clean sheet, and taking their three points. The Tiger defense was on point, and they held the Aggies to just three shots, one of them on goal, the rest of the match.
Coach Hoxie summed up the win saying, "That was a really good game from the boys today. Their energy was relentless, had the necessary work rate, were unified in their character, and didn't get caught up into any shantankery. Really proud of them. Tactically, once we got the 2nd goal, it was about waiting for the clock to tick and seeing the game out. We always looked like scoring the third goal before our opponents, but keeping them at nil was the priority. It was 3 points well deserved"
He added, "Time to rest up, we've got our bye week, so we'll use that time to recovery, get some school work done, and watch some film. Got a huge game next Friday night vs WBU, but we'll spend the weekend enjoying the victory."
The win moves the Tigers to 6-3-3 overall, and 1-2-1 in the SAC. As Coach Hoxie alluded to, the Tigers' next opponent is Wayland Baptist University at home on Friday night.
