ABILENE, Texas – The fourth-ranked Tiger men's soccer team took its show on the road for just the second time this season on Thursday night, defeating Hardin-Simmons University (TX) 2-0 at the HSU Soccer Complex.
Trinity (6-0-0) is now 29-2-3 all-time against the Cowboys (3-4-0), and the Tigers drew some measure of retribution for the last meeting between the two teams – a 2-2 draw in 2023. Trinity scored both of its goals early in the second half and both came just 67 seconds apart. The game also marked the fifth straight clean sheet for the Tiger defense, which yielded just three total shots and none that were on target.
Jayden Schell (Dallas, Texas / Plano) played the full game in goal, earning his third shutout of the season and directing the defense that held Hardin-Simmons in check the entire night. Meanwhile, Trinity's offense was relentless in the attack from the start, piling up 11 shots in the first half of play. The bad news for Tiger fans was that while five of the shots were on frame, none got past the Cowboys goalkeeper and the game went to halftime without a score for either side.
Just under 10 minutes into the second half, Trinity's fortunes changed by way of a free kick in the home half of the field. The Tigers played short and were initially turned away and forced to play back, but that wound up being a blessing in disguise.
Max Salinas (Austin, Texas / Austin) received the initial free kick outside the box and was forced to the side and unable to get the ball forward. He played it back to
Jeremy Siau (Granite Bay, Calif. / Granite Bay), who lofted a nice long pass over the HSU defense. After a bounce, Luke
Chandler (Glasgow, Scotland / Balfron) swung around crossed the ball in front of the net and past a diving keeper, where
Adam Knutson (Dripping Springs, Texas / Dripping Springs) was able to tap it in for the eventual game-winner.
The second came in a flash as Trinity immediately sought to pad the lead. Trinity's defense shut down a potential attack from Hardin-Simmons and began the scoring play with a pass from
Daniel Urquidi (Round Rock, Texas / Round Rock) across midfield to Knutson. With a defender on his back, Knutson quickly turned and pushed the ball forward to a streaking Salinas. Facing a defender in front of him and another closing from behind, Salinas made a brilliant move just outside the box and flashed towards goal where he smashed a left-footed shot past the keeper for a 2-0 Tiger lead.
That was all Trinity needed to lock down the road win, allowing just two shots and a corner the rest of the way. Both shots came within seconds, but the Tiger defense held and continued its streak of five straight games without giving up a goal.
Up Next
Trinity will remain in Abilene to take on 20th-ranked Christopher Newport University (VA) tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m.
