Wichita, Kan. — A surprising 1-0 lead by Newman in the first half was soon shut down as the Southern Nazarene Men's Soccer over came the deficit in their 3-2 victory on the road.
Previously defeating Newman at home in early October, the Storm (11-6, 8-3 GAC) relived the memory Thursday night as the stat sheet looked similar to that first meeting with the Jets (1-14-1, 1-9-1 GAC). The Storm took a total of 22 shots that night with only nine of those in range; yet, three of those nine were a success on the visitor's side of the scoreboard. The Jets could not keep up on the offensive end as they only took seven shots that night with four of those on goal.
Newman was on the board early in the first with a goal scored just past the 15th minute. SNU remind scoreless up until the 31st minute when Esteban Ramirez found Angel Lopez for the Storm's first goal as he tied the match at 1-1.
The Storm channeled their normal dominance coming into the second half and scored two more times courtesy of Kazuki Okazaki and Juan Rodarte to extend the lead to 3-1 with just over 40 minutes left in the match. As time was winding down Newman fought back and sunk one in just past the 87th minute to cut the Storm's lead down to just one goal.
SNU stood their ground and kept the Jets at bay leaving Wichita with a 3-2 victory and another conference win in the books.
Lopez led the offensive front as he was finding every opening for the Storm with his nine shots, four shots on goal, and one of SNU's three scores that night. Off the bench, Okazaki and Rodarte came in and added to the Storm's lead with their two shots and one goal each.
Ramirez was feeling generous that match with his one assist as he found Lopez an opening for the Storm goal in the first half.
In goal, Ramiro Diez grabbed two saves.
The Storm head to Hays, Kansas Saturday afternoon where they face the other leaders in the Great American Conference standings, Fort Hays State. The Tigers currently hold an 8-2-1 conference record while the Storm are right behind at 8-3. That will be the SNU's last match before the start of the Conference Championships next weekend. Kick off against the Tigers is set for 1 p.m.
