MEN’S SOCCER

The HU men’s soccer team defended their home turf Saturday afternoon by blanking Lawrence Tech 2-0 at King Stadium. It’s the Foresters’ second straight W over the Blue Devils as the series between the two squads favors Lawson and crew 4-2.

Huntington doubled up their guests in shot taken through the opening 45 minutes, 11-5, but couldn’t get anything to stick until the second period. Both keepers made several quality saves in the first half to make for the 0-0 deadlock at intermission.

Both goals came within a 15-minute span with the first in the 53rd minute when Pablo Garcia played a ball to Higor Barbieri who turned his defender and placed it side netting to break the silence on the scoreboard.

The insurance goal came at the 67:03 mark. Consecutive passes by Paulo Fiho and Tiago Costa set up Joao Ratinho who made a clever run for a picture perfect finish off Costa’s cheeky pass. It proved the exclamation mark on the match as Tech never really threatened after that.

Pedro Moreira was spectacular in net, collecting five saves on the way to claiming his third clean sheet of the season. HU outshot their guests 16-10 and finished with six corners to SHU’s five.

“After our loss earlier this week, today was a fantastic response against a very well coach and talented team,” said Coach Russ Lawson. “I felt like the adjustments we made and the buy-in from our guys really allowed us to put an imprint on the game. It’s exciting to get this type of team effort because it shows us what we’re capable of doing.”

The Foresters will be tested Wednesday when they host #14 Indiana Tech at 4:00 p.m.