MEN’S SOCCER

The Forester men’s soccer team topped Holy Cross 5-3 in Saturday afternoon’s score fest at Saints Field. Huntington is currently averaging just over three goals per game as they move to 3-1-1 on the year.

There was a flurry of activity within a three-minute span that started at the 24:54 mark when Joao Ratinho tapped in a ball that ping ponged in the box on a long throw in for an early 1-0 HU advantage.

The celebration was short-lived as the Saints countered less than 60 seconds later to pull things even but then it became the Dilesh Patel show. From the top of the 18, the crafty senior midfielder ripped a one-timer lower left corner on another long throw in the 28th minute.

Ten minutes into the second half, Patel bent a ball back post on a free kick from 30 yards out that Garrett Klefeker ran onto for his first goal of the season. Patel still wasn’t finished leaving his mark on the game. Less than three minutes after his assist, he scored another goal, this time blistering a shot that dipped over the keeper upper 90.

The Foresters boast a front line that loves to press and Sam Dolobaipu was the benefactor of that aggressiveness. The sophomore from Sioux Falls (S.D.)  has scored in every match so far this season and kept that streak alive by slotting the keeper after Abraham Abdoul Kadri forced the HC backline to cough up the ball with less than 25 minutes remaining.

It made for a 5-1 difference that put the game out of reach despite the Saints scoring twice in the final seven minutes. Holy Cross is 1-3 on the season with all three losses coming from Crossroads League opponents.

HU is back in action on Wednesday when they make the short trip to Fort Wayne to take on Indiana Tech at 6:00 p.m.