Two goals by senior Dominic Furness propelled the No. 17 West Texas A&M men’s soccer team to a 3-1 win at UT-Permian Basin Tuesday afternoon as the Buffaloes improved to 10-1-2 on the year, while UTPB dropped its seventh-consecutive match falling to 5-8 on the year.
The Buffaloes jumped out to an early 2-0 lead as they dominated the offense in the first stanza outshooting the Falcons 11-1. They had four shots and two corner kicks in the first 15 minutes of the match. Senior Dominic Furness stole the ball from UTPB deep in the attacking zone and broke away for a shot to the left side of the goalkeeper at the 26:26 mark for his team and league-leading 17th goal of the season.
WT continued to pressure offensively as and was rewarded once again. This time, sophomore Martin Fuentes took a through ball and a redirected pass from sophomores Conrod Goulbourne and George Beasley for Fuentes’ second goal of the year 40 minutes into the match for a 2-0 lead. It was Goulbourne’s fourth assist of the year and Beasley’s first career assist.
The Falcons got on the board in the 43rd minute as Oscar Reyes took a pass from Giovanni Gomez for a break down the right side and fired to the left of sophomore goalkeeper Carlos Ruiz for a 2-1 score. It was the only shot for UTPB in the first half.
WT had six corner kicks and five shots on goal in the opening frame.
If you continue shooting the goals will come eventually was the theme for the second half as WT continued its onslaught of shots and finally broke through with an insurance goal at the 81:12 mark as Furness scored his second goal of the match and 18th of the season on the second assist from Goulbourne for a 3-1 lead. Furness was fed a nice pass from the left side of the box to the right post for the score. Furness came into the day second in the nation in goals behind Kenny Hogg of Palm Beach Atlantic who had 17. Furness leads the nation in points following today’s match with 41.
For the match, WT outshot UTPB 23-8 and 8-4 in shots on goal. The Buffs had 10 corner kicks in the match to three for the Falcons. Furness led the way with seven shots and two on goal which were both scores. Fuentes added three shots and a goal, while Goulbourne had two assists and one shot.
Lone Star Conference Offensive Player of the Week and Odessa native, senior midfielder Lukas Garcia had two shots on goal, while LSC Defensive Player of the Week, sophomore goalkeeper Carlos Ruiz had three saves earning his second win of the season.
With the win, head coach Butch Lauffer won his 450th match at the helm of the men’s and women’s programs at WT in his 22nd season. He is 450-181-46 all-time and now is 259-114-30 at the helm of the men’s program. Lauffer stepped down from heading the women’s program after the 2009 season as he was 190-67-19 as the women’s coach.
The Buffaloes return home following Tuesday afternoon’s match at UT-Permian Basin, to host three of the final four matches of the regular season in conference play. WT will look to avenge an early season loss to Incarnate Word as it hosts the Cardinals Friday at 7 p.m. at The Pitch. The Buffaloes then host Midwestern State Sunday at 1 p.m.
