Friday Night College Soccer Roundup

LaCourse shines in victory; ORU tops Hillcats, 2-1

TULSA, Okla. – The Oral Roberts University men's soccer team snapped a six-match regular season winless streak on Friday evening as the Golden Eagles topped the Hillcats of Rogers State, 2-1, at the Case Soccer Complex.

The Golden Eagles improved their record to 1-4-1 this season, recording their first victory since the second to last match in 2012. The Hillcats dropped to 1-3.

Edgardo Mira put the Golden Eagles on the board in the eighth minute as he floated a free kick from about 40 yards out over RSU keeper Mitchell Penton for the first goal.

With just a minute and a half remaining in the first stanza, an RSU defender pulled down Gerardo Salas in the box for a foul. Salas was called upon for the penalty kick, easily blasting it by the keeper to give ORU a 2-0 heading into the break.

With the exception of a goal in the 52nd minute by Caleb Pitts from the middle of the box, ORU keeper Ben LaCourse was spectacular in the match. The Hillcats made LaCourse work, but the sophomore was able to record a season high nine saves in the match.

LaCourse earned his first victory in an ORU uniform, while Penton took the loss for the Hillcats without a save in the first half. Joey Arnold entered in the second half and recorded three saves, holding ORU scoreless in the final 45 minutes.

On the attack, ORU took 11 shots and put five of them on frame, as Alex White, Casey Cantor and Chris Kroeze had solid looks.

Up next for ORU is a date with regional rival Missouri State at home on Tuesday. The match is scheduled to kickoff at 7 p.m. at the Case Soccer Complex.

Tulsa 12th-Ranked Men's Soccer Team Dominates Valparaiso, 4-0

Tulsa, Oklahoma – Kyle Cumings, Akeil Barrett, Omar Mata and Cristian Mata all scored a goal for Tulsa's 12th-ranked men's soccer team to give the Golden Hurricane a 4-0 win over Valparaiso on Friday night at the Hurricane Soccer and Track Stadium. TU moved to 5-1-1 on the season, while the Crusaders fell to 2-1-3 overall.

"It was a good, solid 90 minutes," Assistant Coach Justin Cook said. "We've been harping on the guys lately about putting on a full performance and tonight we did that. We created a lot of good opportunities and defensively we were very sharp. We didn't give up a lot, only four shots and zero in the first half. Overall we were very happy and it was a good performance by everybody."

Cumings scored the only goal of the first half at the 14:12 mark as he picked up a pass from Barrett and beat the keeper from eight yards out.

Barrett punched in his own goal from the left side of the box off an assist from Cristian in the 64th minute, and a minute later Omar drilled in a free kick taken from 25 yards out into the top right corner of the net.

Cristian put in the final goal for the Golden Hurricane with 78:10 on the clock off an assist from Ray Saari.

Cristian led the attack with seven shots, while Barrett had three attempts, and Tony Rocha and Saari had two shots. Jake McGuire played all 90 minutes between the posts and had one save.

The Golden Hurricane had an 18-4 lead in shots, including a 7-1 advantage in shots on goal, and a 6-2 lead in corner kicks.

Tulsa will open Conference USA play against Old Dominion on Saturday, Sept. 28th beginning at 7:00 pm at the Hurricane Stadium.