Shreveport– The Centenary men's soccer team flexed its offensive muscles on Sunday afternoon as the Gents put an exclamation point on an impressive weekend of play with a 5-2 victory over the Huntingdon College Hawks in non-conference action at Mayo Field.
The Gents (2-1-1) scored their most goals in a game since a 5-0 win over Dallas Christian College in the season opener last season. The Hawks fell to 1-3 with Sunday's loss after a 4-1 loss to Sul Ross State on Saturday. Centenary, which earned a solid 2-0 victory over the Mississippi University for Women Owls on Friday night, has now equaled last season's win total.
The Hawks scored first as F Varian Carty found the net for an unassisted goal in the 11th minute. Roughly 20 minutes later, senior F Rene Escobar (Cypress, Texas) was fouled inside the box and awarded a penalty kick. Escobar drilled the try home for a 1-1 tie, scoring his first goal of the season and second of his career. Junior F Ron Masti (Houston, Texas) then gave the Gents a 2-1 lead with a goal in the 42nd minute with an assist from senior MF Colton Howard (Keller, Texas). Masti beat his defender around 10 yards from the goal and snuck the ball past Hawks' GK Cody Hall.
Sy Garrett's unassisted goal tied the match at 2-2 in the 59th minute, but it was all Gents for the remainder of the match. Centenary's offense scored three more goals in the final 18 minutes. Senior F Quentin Helm (Denton, Texas) scored following a corner kick in the 74th minute for a 3-2 lead. Hall saved a shot by junior MF Brennan Amato (Denham Springs, La.) but he could not secure it and Helm capitalized and knocked it home for his first goal of the season and second of his career.
Five minutes later, Escobar played a nice ball into the box to senior F/MF Michael Smith (Baton Rouge, La.) who took two quick steps and rifled the ball high into the top right corner of the net for his first-career goal and a 4-2 advantage. Junior D Dylan Allred (Lafayette, La.) made a nice play preceding the goal to keep the ball inbounds on the near sideline before he fed a pass to Escobar. Howard then capped the scoring with his first goal of the season and fourth of his career with Smith tallying the assist. Howard raised his hand across the field from Smith to let him know he was open and Smith used his nifty footwork to get close to the net and then slid the ball over to Howard and he knocked it home. Escobar, Smith and Howard each finished with a goal and an assist.
Junior Casey Clemo (Forney, Texas) went the distance and made one save as the Centenary defense held the Hawks to just nine shots and a pair of corner kicks as scoring opportunities were limited. Clemo earned his first-career shutout in Friday's 2-0 win over MUW. Hall also played all 90 minutes and was busy as he recorded 12 saves. Centenary finished with a decisive advantage in shots (32-9) and took five corner kicks. Each team was whistled for 21 fouls and seven cards were issued in the match – four yellows and a red by the Hawks and a pair of yellows picked up by the Gents.
The Gents now hit the road for a pair of non-conference matches next weekend in Birmingham, Ala. Centenary will face the host at Birmingham-Southern College Panthers (Saturday, Sept. 16 – 3 PM) and Berry College Vikings (Sunday, Sept. 17 – 3 PM). Centenary will also play at East Texas Baptist University on Thursday, Sept. 21 (7 PM) in Marshall, Texas before returning home on Saturday, Sept. 23 to face Howard Payne University.
See the complete Gents' schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/msoc/2023-24/schedule
Admission is FREE to all Centenary home athletic contests. Live stats and live video stream are available for all Centenary home contests.
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