Saturday, October 31, 2015

BETHANY, OKLA. — Led by Ryan McManus and his hat-trick, the Eastern New Mexico University men's soccer team scored a season high four goals in their 4-1 win over Southern Nazarene University Saturday.

The Greyhounds (6-7-2) dominated the match, recording 33 shots to the Crimson Storm's (3-14) 17.  James Gutierrez recorded four saves, allowing just one goal.

Head coach Paul Tate said, "We started off a little slow and they were really aggressive, but we finally found the pace of the game and just kept with it for the win."

But the true story of the match was McManus and his three goals.  Not only did the team captain double his season total to six goals, but also tied for the most goals all-time in a single match in Greyhound history.  His nine shots against SNU tied him for third all-time for a single game as well.

His second goal of the day came off a double assist from Ryan Sinclair and Roberto Zatarain. Sinclair crossed the ball to Zatarain, who then headed the ball back in front of the goal to a waiting McManus, who finished of the sequence with a bicycle kick for the score.

Tate said, "He [McManus] played huge, really well today.  His last two goals were incredible and everyone involved on them played well, from J-Mo [Gutierrez] and then Sinclair and Roberto, just great goals all around."

 Zatarain also scored on the day, moving his total to nine goals on the season which leads the team.  Carlos Viveros had another strong performance, shooting six times with four shots on target. 

The team will head into its final match of the season now, taking on No. 2 Midwestern State University Nov. 8 in Wichita Falls, Texas.  The first time the two teams met saw the Greyhounds take the then No. 1 team in the nation to overtime, before losing 1-0.