Sports News

MEN’S SOCCER

November 25, 2019 /

With less than a 24-hour turnaround, the #RV Huntington men’s soccer team was back at it Saturday afternoon for day two of the NAIA National Championships Opening Round to face host #10 Rio Grande (16-3-1). As HU fans have come to expect, their gritty Foresters left it all on the pitch but found themselves on the wrong end of a 1-0 decision.

“The boys gave it all they had today and left it out there on the field,” said Coach Lawson. “Ultimately we knew we were going to be up against it playing Rio – one of the most complete teams we have faced all year.

“Our strength all year has been our defensive organization, grit and ability to generate restarts and that was on display again today. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to create quality opportunities in the attacking 1/3 to get that equalizer.”

The loss brings an end to HU’s season as they wrap up the fall with an overall record of 15-5-3 which proves one of the best seasons in program history. One has to flip back the history pages to 1989 to find a year with more wins. It dates back to Lawson’s playing days when he and his team went 20-5.

While the Foresters didn’t get any good looks this afternoon, they weren’t letting their hosts generate much offense either with the only exception coming in the 38th minute Ewan McLauchlan fired a shot upper left corner for what proved the game’s only goal.

With this win, the Red Storm moves onto the NAIA National Championships Final Site in California next month as one of 16 teams vying for a national title.

“This was an amazing year and we took a massive step forward for the program with our first win in the national tournament,” said Lawson. “This is such a dynamic group, full of character, joy and fine young men.

“To our seniors, Landon, Luke and Stevie, their class is the winningest in HUMS history and that is a credit to the fine young men they are both on and off the field. As for the future, we return a tremendous nucleus that has leadership, talent and a hunger in place that will hopefully allow us to make another run.”