MEN’S SOCCER

In a matchup between two squads receiving votes in the latest national poll, the Huntington men’s soccer team took care of business in the first half to breeze past Mount Vernon 3-0 Wednesday night at King Stadium. With this win, the Foresters improve to 11-3-1 on the year.

With three regular season games remaining, Potter and crew are sitting atop the Crossroads League with a 5-1 record with IWU hot on their trail at 4-1-1 in CL action.

HU raced out to a 3-0 advantage in the opening 30 minutes with Joao Ratinho posting a pair of early goals to put his team in the driver’s seat right away. His first goal of the evening came at the 12:42 mark when he turned on his defender just outside the box for a left-footed strike that sizzled back netting.

Just over six minutes later, Ratinho needed just one touch to send a ball upper 90 after taking advantage of a mistake on the Cougar backline. During his three years in Forester green, the Portuguese native has scored 28 times which includes logging seven goals so far this season.

It wasn’t long before the hosts put the game out of reach. Three minutes after entering the contest, Sam Dolobaipu extended HU’s lead to three with his one-timer, far post blast thanks to a perfectly placed pass from Owen Lieland in the 31st minute.

Huntington’s 3-0 lead carried into intermission after which they managed the final 45 minutes to secure the victory. HU continues to rack up shutouts with tonight marking their seventh clean sheet of the year.

Both teams got off 11 shots with Dan Pellegrine securing six saves in goal for HU. Shots on goal favored Mount Vernon 6-5 as did corner kicks 7-5.

The Foresters have come away with a W five out of the last six times they’ve faced MVNU. With tonight’s loss, the Cougars drop to 5-3-6 on the year which includes a 2-2-2 league record.

HU is on the road Saturday to take on #RV Grace at 5:00 p.m.