Men’s soccer: Wolverines score early, beat Houston Baptist
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The UVU men’s soccer team (5-8-2, 2-3-2) jumped out early with two goals in the first half and beat Houston Baptist University (5-7, 2-5) Thursday night at Clyde Field.
UVU scored the first goal early in the match when Alec Felix scored on a pass from Giovanny Vazquez in minute number eight. Then Austin Buxton scored the Wolverines’ second goal in minute 32′ with Joe Barakat getting the assist. It was his first goal of the season. Barakat left the game soon after with the assistance of trainers just seconds before the end of the first half.
“It was an emotional goal,” Buxton said. “That was probably the biggest win that we’ve seen here just because we’ve never had to have a must-win to get into a tournament.”
The game was as close to a must-win as there can be for the Wolverines as they vie for a WAC Tournament bid. UVU has picked up some momentum in the past two matches with a win over UMKC and a draw against No. 12 ranked Air Force.
The Wolverines improved their record at home to 3-3-2 after a tough stretch in Orem during the month of September.
“We came out loose and relaxed and I think from the first whistle we were fantastic,” head coach Greg Maas said. “We’ve got three great opponents in front of us with UNLV, Grand Canyon and Seattle. This team tends to respond with a real talented, challenging and quality team in front of us, so with three games in front I certainly wouldn’t count these guys out. I think they’re on a roll right now.”
UVU has more than a week off until its next match against UNLV in Las Vegas Friday Oct. 27 with kickoff set for 5:30 MST.
Ty Bianucci is a life-long fan of the San Francisco Giants, 49ers and Golden State Warriors who started on the sports beat for The Review, but now contributes investigative stories. He, along with two of his colleagues, were awarded the Sunshine Award in 2018 by the Society of Professional Journalists.