TU sports journalist Gianni Anfuso covers Tulsa’s sweeping victory against the visiting team last Friday.
The Golden Hurricane dominated the University of the Incarnate Word Cardinals under the lights on Friday night in a 4-0 home-field victory. The match started off slow with a scoreless and heavily defensive first half. Tulsa started the match in a 4-3-3 formation but couldn’t quite penetrate the Cardinals’ defense. However, once Tulsa changed its formation to a 4-4-2, its offensive fire couldn’t be extinguished. #17 Adam Habib started the scoring spree in 69th minute of the match by shooting a bullet past Cardinal’s keeper Andres Arce.
Habib was assisted by Marcos Moreno off a cross pass from 25 yards away. Moreno went on to assist another goal in the 73rd minute to teammate Harris Partain. Partain later landed a shot at the right side of the field in the left side of the net from an astounding 18-yards out, much to the roaring crowd’s approval. Two minutes later, #29 Austin Schweinert picked the lower right corner of the goal and put the Golden Hurricane up 3-0 to solidify their victory. Schweinert was assisted with a cross from #24 Mitchell Cashion.
The Golden Hurricanes continued to play with controlled aggression against the Cardinals, however in the 88th minute Matteo Drougard decided that they would not be content with a 3-goal lead. Drougard shot from 12 yards straight up the middle and buried the 4th goal of the game deep behind Arce. Drougard received his assist with a beautiful touch pass from #8 Charles Noyelle.
On the defensive side of the pitch, the Hurricane stood their ground. Tulsa’s gritty defense only allowed four total shots on goal, which were all easy saves for keeper Brady Moody. After the match, Moody’s efforts were celebrated by his teammates and the spirited crowd.
In a post-match interview, starting striker Harris Partain spoke about his team’s performance:
“We created a lot of chances in the second half … once we got the first one the game opened up even more for our attackers. My goal came from a nice tackle on the sideline which allowed me to keep the ball in play and with Marcos running on to it I was able to drift back inside to receive the layoff pass … once I created the space for myself, I was able to slap one in at the far post.”
Marcos Moreno spoke on behalf of his team by stating, “It was a great team effort and win. I am happy to be able to contribute to my team with the assists to get the win. Hopefully I can keep providing for the team the next games as well.”
The boys are heading into next week very confident and motivated. Their comraderie was felt from the sidelines and their team chemistry is quite powerful. The game ended in true Tulsa soccer fashion with a barrage of hugs and high fives. Tulsa now sits with a season record of 2-3-0 and the boys are hoping to hit .500 this Tuesday when they face Creighton on the road in Omaha, Nebraska.
