CANYON, Texas – The Buffs scored two first half goals before adding a third late in the second half on their way to a commanding 3-0 victory over Rogers State in the team's first career meeting Thursday night at The Pitch. With the win, the Buffs improve to 8-2-1, 5-1-1 in Heartland Conference play while the Hillcats fall to 6-3-2 (3-3-1).
"I thought that it was a solid performance in every phase of the game," said WT men's head soccer coach Butch Lauffer. "It was a clinical, workman like performance from every player that stepped foot on the field tonight. I have to credit our backline for how they played as they held one of the better offenses in the league to just four shots. We beat a good side tonight and need to keep that momentum going."
Michael Garcia put the Buffs up 1-0 at 3:29 after nice build up play from Gabe Williams and Christian Suthers. Williams controlled the ball on the right side before finding an open Suthers who left the ball for a streaking Garcia just outside the penalty area. The Dallas, Texas native needed just two touches before blasting the ball near post passed RSU's Cody Gammill.
"Michael has being doing well overall and it was good to see him get on the scoresheet again," Lauffer added. "The goal he scored tonight was similar to the one he got against St. Mary's. It was a good start but we should have added two or more goals in the first ten minutes with the chances we had."
Troy Reeves nearly doubled the Buffs lead on two different occasions with his best chance coming at 8:53. The sophomore defender rose above his defender to put his head on a long throw in from Filip Janjic but it was cleared off the line by a Hillcats defender.
The Buffs finally got the second goal at 26:42 when Evan Bozman got on the end of a flick header from Mirza Dizdarevic. Filip Janjic got everything started with a long throw-in that found Dizadarevic inside the box. The Malmo, Sweden native flicked the ball to the back post right in the path of Bozman who guided it into the back of the net.
The Buffs ended the first 45 minutes with 14 shots compared to the Hillcats three.
The Buffs nearly added a third goal multiple times throughout the final 45 minutes but finally put the match out of reach at 79:21 on Gabe William's second goal of the season. Suthers picked up his second assist of the match after breaking away from his defender on the right side before crossing the ball across goal. Williams timed his run perfectly to meet the ball at the top of the penalty box before one touching in the bottom left corner of the goal.
The backline of Troy Reeves, Tom Vickers, Ryan Kennedy and Josh Palm did a great job of containing the Hillcats attack all night especially sophomore forward Jake Simpson. The reigning Heartland Conference Player of the Week was held without a shot for the just the third time this season.
The Buffs finished the match with a 22-4 advantage in shots with 12 of those being on goal. WT also took all five corner kicks in the match.
Junior goalkeeper Patrick Satorie made two saves, both in the first half, to pick up his eighth win of the season. The Victoria, Australia native has now tied his career-high with six shutouts in a season.
The Buffs will host the Jets of Newman on Saturday, Oct. 8 at 1 p.m. at The Pitch. Links to live stats, video and tickets can be found at GoBuffsGo.com under the men's soccer schedule page.
Notes:
· The Buffs now lead the all-time series 1-0-0.
· WT's unbeaten streak is now at six after the victory.
· The Buffs have now outshot their last two opponents by a combined 48 shots.
· Troy Reeves led the Buffs in shots for the second consecutive match with four.
· Christian Suthers is the third Buff to have two or more assist in a match this season joining Reece Schattle and Mirza Dizdarevic.
· Suthers now has a team-high four assists.
· Evan Bozman scored his first career goal in his 22nd career match.
· Michael Garcia is the seventh different WT player to score a game-winning goal this season.
· Patrick Satorie's 16 career shutouts put him one away from second place all-time.
· Butch Lauffer now sits two wins short of 300 for his men's coaching career.
