MEN’S SOCCER

The hunt for a second consecutive Crossroads League championship continues with the 2nd-seeded Forester men’s soccer team’s 4-1 win over 7th-seeded Saint Francis (7-12) Saturday afternoon at King Stadium. Today’s match was the quarterfinals of the league tournament with the W sending HU on to the semifinals while the loss brings an end to the Cougars’ season.

Huntington was quick to take control of the day thanks to Caleb Sexton who rocketed a free kick back netting less than three minutes into the match. The goal is Sexton’s fourth of the year. The freshman midfielder was just getting started as he found Ben Arnold in the 34th minute after drawing the defense up to orchestrate the easy tap-in for his teammate.

The 2-0 lead held through intermission but Sexton had one more point in him, this time assisting Luke Unger at the 53:33 mark. It was assist No. 10 for Sexton while the goal was the seventh time Unger has found back netting this year. With less than seven minutes remaining, Christian Kohen put the finishing touches on HU’s scoring with another easy tap-in for his sixth goal of the season.

With under two minutes left, the Cougars finally cracked Huntington’s defense compliments of Jacob Woodruff to deny Gabe Greenfield and company the shutout. HU finished with 29 shots, 16 of which were on target, to USF’s four.

“After having a ten-day break, I thought the boys responded well,” said Coach Lawson. “Our execution of the game was encouraging. We did a nice job of solving Saint Francis’ defense.

“The boys earned the right to play another week. I’m proud of their effort and we’re excited to be moving on.”

With this win, the Foresters improve to 13-4-2 on the year. Thirteen wins is the most in program history since 1989 when Huntington posted a 20-5 record. The semifinal matchup will feature No. 2 HU against No. 3 Bethel at King Stadium on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. while the other side of the bracket will see top-seeded Spring Arbor host the winner of #4 MVNU/#5 IWU.