Photo by Kami Wood
McPherson, Kan. – The Central Christian College men's soccer team evened their record to 2-2 in Sooner Athletic Conference play with a thrilling 1-0 victory on Saturday, at home, over the Oklahoma City University Stars.
OCU came into the game sitting atop the SAC standings at 2-0 and having just come off a big win on the road over USAO earlier in the week. The home field has been very good to the Tigers against the Stars in recent years. The Tigers had won the two previous meetings played in McPherson, 2-1 in 2021, and 2-0 in 2019.
The Tigers came out of the gate with purpose, and were sharp all game long. Had it not been for some good goal keeping by the Stars and a little bit of bad luck, the game would have been two nil heading into the halftime intermission. Instead it was 0-0 because the Stars' net minder made a brilliant foot save at point blank on a shot by Francisco Leite (Sr. Porto, Portugal), and late in the half Riccardo Di Vincenzo bent a beautiful free kick around the Stars' wall that hit the left post.
The Tigers finally broke through in the 70th minute. After a turnover by the Stars in the midfield, the Tigers quickly went on the attack. Johnny Rodriguez (Jr. Anaheim, Calif.), checked back to the ball and collected a pass and quickly turned toward goal. From the top of the 18 he took a dribble then feigned a shot attempt. The Stars defense leaned left and Rodriguez played a quick no look pass to Camilo Penafiel (So. Santiago, Chile) coming in from the left. Penafiel dribbled across the 18 yard box, breaking two attempted tackles by the Stars, and slotted a ball past the goal keeper for what would turn out to be the game winning goal, his second in as many games.
The Tigers held the advantage in total shots 14 to 8, and shots on goal 5 to 4. Rodolfo Ramirez (Jr. Mission Viejo, Calif.) picked up the win for the Tigers in goal, picking up four saves along the way.
Coach Hoxie waxed poetic in his post-game synopsis saying, "What a start to the game. The first half was an absolute screamer, filled with chances, tackles, great goalkeeping play...just no goals. Historically, we lose or draw these types of games. On top of proceedings, but no reward. Today, these men earned the victory, thus continuing to change the narrative, and installing belief."
"The question of the day was; who will go? Who will answer the call? To pay this cost is hard, physically demanding, and emotionally exhausting, yet, each day they answer this question with an enthusiastic "I will go." The hope that I have for them is eternal, because what we do here matters there."
The win puts the Tigers at 7-2-2 overall, they will be on the road Friday for a 2:30 match-up with the OPSU Aggies.
