BETHANY, Okla. — With one of the windiest afternoons of the year and a stagnant 84 minutes of competition, things weren't looking like they usually did for the Southern Nazarene Men's Soccer team in their matchup against Fort Hays State.
Yet, the Storm (8-3, 5-0 GAC) never backed down and managed to sneak in a goal right at the 84 minute marker to defeat the Tigers (6-4-1, 3-2 GAC) 1-0 at home making this their fifth consecutive conference victory this season.
Both teams battled it out the entire match with four yellow cards administered and 21 fouls committed that afternoon. Shots were taken from all ends but only one was successful as SNU outshot the Tigers 17-8 having eight of those on target to the Tigers' three.
The Storm faced FHSU's defensive presence as they were scoreless for most of the match which is out of the ordinary for the No. 20 ranked team.
SNU never let up as Harei Maeda manages to punch in a head shot straight to the back off of an Esteban Ramirez assist to give the Storm the lead 1-0 with six minutes left to play.
The Tigers would not answer is those remaining minutes leaving SNU victorious and still sitting atop of the Great American Conference standings.
Maeda gave SNU that ticket to victory with his two shots and one goal that match. Ramirez dished out SNU's only assist that afternoon while tallying two shots and one on goal for the Storm.
Nathaniel Mederos was back in action as he gave some positive play with three shots and two on target while Rennato Ramos was spicing things up on the offensive end with his two shots and one on goal that match.
In goal, Ramiro Diez kept FHSU off the board as he notched three saves that afternoon.
The Storm are back on the road as they face Rogers State in Claremore October 14th with kickoff set for 6:30 p.m. SNU will be heading into this next match with five consecutive conference victories which is their highest win streak ever recorded in the Division II era.
