BROWNWOOD, Texas- The Howard Payne University men's soccer team has beaten the Arlington Baptist Patriots by a score of 3-1 at the Citizens National Bank Soccer Field on Tuesday evening. The Citizens National Bank Soccer Field had special fans in the crowd, as it was Pups at the Pitch night.
Both teams traded early shots in the first fifteen minutes of the first half, but it was Arlington Baptist who took the lead courtesy of a goal scored by Gael Gardea in the 23rd minute of the match. The Yellow Jackets had to start looking for answers on who was going to get them back in the match, and after a wave of subs in the 28
th minute, the Yellow Jackets started to gain a foothold.
Even with this newfound momentum, the Yellow Jackets weren't able to find the back of the net and went into halftime trailing the Patriots by a score of 0-1. Howard Payne fired off seven shots in the first half and forced the Patriots goalkeeper to make two saves on two shots on goal.
In the second half, it took 20 minutes, but Howard Payne was finally able to get the score level. Sophomore defender
Josh Montanez stood over a free kick near the Yellow Jackets' sideline, and delivered a great ball into the box, where graduate defender
Cameron Phipps was able to head the ball home.
The Yellow Jackets had three key substitutions that would have a big impact in the second half. Senior midfielder
Xzavier Saldana came on in the 76
th minute, and then freshman forward
Connor Parker and junior forward
Kolby Lara both got subbed on in the 80
th minute, All three substitutions proved to be correct, as Parker provided a spark to stretch the Patriot's backline.
Saldana scored the go-ahead penalty kick that resulted from a Patriots' defender committing a handball in the penalty box off a shot from sophomore forward
Andrew Womack.
Saldana also assisted Lara's goal to put Howard Payne up 3-1 a couple minutes later. In the end, Howard Payne had a slight edge in the total number of shots with 23 compared to Arlington Baptist's 17. HPU also had five shots on goal in the match.
Sophomore goalkeeper
Adrian Villa made five saves in the contest.
"Games like these are tough because on one hand, we didn't play well and our energy was low," head coach
Brandon McGibeny said. "On the other hand, you come away with a victory. So, there's a celebration in that we came away with the win, but we can't continue in the way that we played and expect the same outcomes against the level of play in our conference."
Up Next: The Howard Payne University men's soccer team returns to ASC Conference play when the team travels to Kerrville, Texas to play Schreiner University at the Mountaineer Soccer Field on Saturday, October 10 at 7:30 PM.
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