PORTALES, NM – The Eastern New Mexico men's soccer program opened up the 2018 regular season with a 3-1 victory over non-conference opponent Southern Nazarene inside Greyhound Stadium.
The Hounds netted goals at the 14:34 and 16:08 marks of the opening half to build a 2-0 advantage and consistently kept the pressure on the Crimson Storm throughout the game. Eastern New Mexico outshot the Storm 9-1 in the opening half and padded their advantage with a goal at the 60:45 mark to cruise to their first victory of the season.
Southern Nazarene battled to the end and scored at the 83:13 mark of the second half for their lone score of the game, but couldn't manage to build much more of an offensive attack throughout the course of the match.
Sophomore
Gabriel Peres netted the first goal of the 2018 season for the Hounds after taking control of possession at the midfield line and navigated around the Southern Nazarene defense to set up a text book finish to give Eastern the 1-0 advantage at the 14:34 mark. The Hounds showed no signs of early season rust and produced the first six shots of the contest, two of which found the back of the net, and didn't concede a Southern Nazarene chance until the 29
th minute.
Junior
Fernando Lozano scored the other first half goal just two minutes after the opening goal with an assist from sophomore
Lucas Vaz. Vaz then added to his efforts to the match with the goal at the 60:45 mark to essentially put the game out of reach for Southern Nazarene and ensure the Hounds their first victory of the season.
Keeper
Ryan Flores picked up the victory and recorded three saves throughout the contest. Vaz continually presented as a challenge to the opposition, recording six shots with four being on goal and the two previously mentioned points. Peres and Lozano both recorded two shots to go along with each of their goals.
The Hounds will look to take down their second Great American Conference foe of the season this Saturday inside Greyhound Stadium with a match against Oklahoma Baptist scheduled for a 1 p.m. start.