AUSTIN, Texas – The 13
th-ranked St. Edward's Men's Soccer team opened the 2015 Heartland Conference Tournament with a masterful 5-1 victory over long-time rival St. Mary's Thursday afternoon in the semifinals at Lewis-Chen Family Field. The Hilltoppers won last year's championship, and will have a chance to repeat on Saturday as they face Texas A&M-International in the championship match.
St. Edward's (14-2-2) opened the first 20 minutes of action with three shots on goal and three cornerkicks, but it wasn't until the 21
st minute that the Hilltoppers got on the scoreboard.
KARL DE ZOETEN started the play as he sent a though ball ahead to
NATE COONS. Coons cut the ball back toward the goalmouth and found
JOSH TAYLOR for the easy tap-in from six yards.
St. Edward's continued to press in the early going. In the 24
th minute,
SAMUEL JACKSON sent a header to the far past from 10 yards out past the Rattler goalkeeper for a 2-0 lead. Taylor, who had just finished scoring his own goal, picked up the assist with his pinpoint pass from 30 yards away.
The Hilltoppers made it 3-0 in the 25
th minute with a goal similar to the first one.
PABLO COVARRUBIAS picked up his team-leading ninth goal on a double assist from
DYLAN ARMSTRONG and
JOSH TAYLOR.
St. Edward's would not let up as
STEVE AOUDOU notched his third goal of the season in the 39
th minute. After a red card to St. Mary's defender Jack Verth put the Rattlers down a man, Armstrong tallied his eighth goal of the year in the 44
th minute. After a pass through the defense by
DRAKE LOVELADY, Armstrong dribbled around the STMU goalkeeper for his eighth goal of the season.
That is where the half would end, with the home team comfortably ahead, 5-0. St. Mary's did get one goal back in the second half when Juan Sanchez scored on an assist from Gonzalo Orozco in the 51
st minute.
St. Edward's outshot the Rattlers, 14-6, and had 10 cornerkicks compared to just one for St. Mary's.
St. Edward's advances to the championship match where they will face Texas A&M-International. The match will kickoff at 1:30 p.m. at Lewis-Chen Family Field. The Dustdevils advanced on penalty kicks against Newman in the other semifinal. The match will have live video and stats on the Hilltopper Athletic Website.
