After suffering its first Heartland Conference loss of the season on Thursday, the Eastern New Mexico men’s soccer team rebounded in a big way as the Hounds scored four second-half goals to defeat the Newman Jets 4-2 on Saturday.
It was a tale of two halves as the Greyhounds (4-3-1, 2-1-1 Heartland) and the Jets (3-5, 0-4 Heartland) both struggled to find the back of the net in the first half as the two teams battled to a scoreless tie going into the half.
ENMU had a golden opportunity to take the early lead in the 35th minute, but freshman forward Gregory Franusic just barely missed on a shot that hit the crossbar, keeping the match scoreless.
While the Jets had some opportunities of their own to try to take the early lead, Hounds goalkeeper Ross Dalton stopped three shots to keep Newman off the board in the opening half.
While the Greyhounds only managed to take five shots, placing four on goal in the first half, they would make some great adjustments that translated to early second half results.
At the 46:57 mark, sophomore midfielder Lucas Vaz gave the Greyhounds their first lead on an assist from Franusic to make it 1-0.
However, Newman would rally with an equalizer in the 55th minute as Victor Rubio Lopez slipped a shot in the back of the net to knot the match up at one apiece.
The Hounds would answer just moments later as Franusic netted an unassisted goal at the 58:50 mark, giving Eastern New Mexico the lead back.
The Greyhounds held the 2-1 advantage for most of the half, but in the 83rd minute, the Jets managed to tie the match at two apiece on a goal by Taylor White.
Despite giving up the equalizer late in the contest, it didn’t take long for Eastern New Mexico to respond. In the 84th minute, freshman midfielder Marvin Lewin scored his first goal of his Greyhounds career, which ended up being the winning goal off a Vaz assist to retake a 3-2 advantage.
The Hounds added some insurance at the 88:12 mark as freshman forward Aderi Arthur-Dede scored his third goal of the season off a William Sutton assist, to stretch the Greyhound lead to two goals with just a little more than a minute left in the contest.
Franusic and Vaz led the way for ENMU as each finished with a goal and an assist while Dalton finished the match with a season-best six saves.
The Hounds will now hit the road for a pair of road Heartland Conference matches next week as they will open the road swing with a match against St. Mary’s in San Antonio on Sept. 27.
