MEN’S SOCCER

The Huntington men’s soccer team (1-1) dominated the first half against IU Northwest on Saturday to notch their first win of the season, a 3-0 decision, at the Crown Point Sports Complex.

The Foresters are two-for-two against the RedHawks with their first meeting coming last year by way of an 8-0 clean sheet.

HU needed just six minutes to get on the board compliments of starting left back Garrett Klefeker. The freshman defender tracked down a rebound off a corner kick for a quick 1-0 lead. He was back at it in the 24th minute, scoring in the same way off a corner, to put his team up by two.

Lawson’s squad continued their supremacy with a third goal before intermission by taking advantage of another corner kick. This time it was Joao Ratinho’s tap in at the 35:25 mark that pushed the lead to 3-0. When all was said and done, HU posted seven corner kicks to IU Northwest’s one.

Shots were even more skewed with Huntington piling up 26 shots, 19 on frame, while limiting their hosts to just three, only one of which was on goal. Pedro Moreira went the distance between the sticks to be credited with the shutout.

We obviously had a very strong half,” said Coach Russ Lawson. “This was a game we can build on. I was pleased with our improvement from Thursday. I thought our guys who came off the bench in the second half did a great job to lock it down.”

The Foresters hits the road again on August 31 to face the University of Michigan-Dearborn at 7:00 p.m.