ABILENE, Texas - The McMurry University men's soccer team, Saturday's 1-0 win over crosstown rival Hardin-Simmons University was a win 14 seasons in the making. That's because – prior to the War Hawks (8-5-2, 5-3-3 ASC) victory on the Cowboys' (5-6-2, 4-5-2 ASC) home turf – it marked the first win over HSU since the 2003 season for McM.
Before Saturday, the Cowboys had won the last 13 meetings between the schools.
The win also assured the McMurry team – which is not yet eligible for the ASC post-season tournament (despite finishing fourth in the ASC for the regular season) - of a berth in the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) Central Region tournament. The last time the War Hawks made the NCCAA post-season, was in 2012 when current head coach
Tyler Tarango was a senior NCCAA all-American on the team (the squad won the NCCAA Central Region and placed sixth in the nation that year).
On Saturday, McM and HSU battled to a scoreless first half. The War Hawks took six shots and the Cowboys four in the opening segment. Overall, McM out-shot their neighbors to the north, 12-6, for the match. McMurry kept HSU goalie Trent Ivy on his toes, as he made three saves each half.
At the 62:35 mark of the match, the War Hawks broke through. Junior
Rafael Lara fed the ball to freshman
Jordan Sczech, who buried the ball in the net for what would prove to be the match winning goal.
It was Sczech's team-leading sixth goal of the season. It was also his team-leading second match-winning goal.
For McMurry senior goalkeeper
Alex Chavez – already the school's leader in career shutouts – added season shutout record holder, with his eighth blanking of 2017 (surpassing the seven shutouts by Ryan Shaughnessy in 2002). Chavez lowered his goals against average to 0.48 and improved his saves percentage to .894 (both season records if the season ended today).
The War Hawks will await word on their NCCAA Central Region opponent. The tourney is scheduled for the third weekend of November at a site to be announced.
