Handing out a payback
By: Cory Munoz
Issue date: 11/11/08 Section: Sports
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After being upset by Eastern New Mexico University in early October in Portales, the No.24 West Texas A&M Buffaloes extracted a little revenge on their Southwestern Soccer Conference rivals in the form of a 4-0 win at the Buffs Soccer Field.
The Buffs (11-5 overall, 5-2 SSC) started out sluggish against the Greyhounds, but found their form when senior Itamar Keinan connected with freshman Nicki Nielsen off of a corner kick for WT's first score of the game.
Nielsen repaid the assist with one of his own to Keinan eight minutes later to push the Buff lead to 2-0 with 24 minutes, 29 seconds left in the first half.
The amount of shots WT took early in game set the tone for handing Eastern a loss like the Greyhounds gave the Buffs, but WT coach, Butch Lauffer, said revenge wasn't on his team's mind.
"We didn't mention (the loss)," Lauffer said. "We just wanted to come out and play a solid game, and I think we did that."
Solid was the best way to describe WT's performance Wednesday. With goalie Sebastian Furness only being tested by one Greyhound shot, the task of shutting out ENMU (6-9-2, 3-3-1) was an easy one.
The Greyhounds only took two shots - one on goal - compared to the Buffs' 16 shots with only six on goal and four finding the back of the net. None was more impressive than when junior Jacob Jensen drained a goal from 25 yards out off a free kick.
"I saw an opening on the right side (of the goal) and went for it," the Horsens, Denmark native said. "(ENMU) is a good team, and we just wanted to make sure we put up enough goals on them so they couldn't make it close."
The loss eliminates the Greyhounds from the NCAA Regional Tournament. A win would not have ensured ENMU a spot in the tournament, but a win combined with a win over Midwestern State would have propelled Eastern into second place in the SSC and secured a spot in the regional tournament.
Even with the loss, Eastern coach Harold Muñoz sees the program moving in the right direction.
"I think we are (moving forward)," the second-year coach said. "(WT) is a good team, and we couldn't replicate the win from earlier (in the season)."
The Greyhounds did tighten up their defense in the second half while playing to a stalemate with the Buffs. ENMU goalie Grant Shanahan had a tough day with most of the first half being played in Greyhound territory.
"They did a great job of playing defense in the second half," Lauffer said. "We gotta take this win and build on it."
The Buffs Ben Everson iced the game with a goal at the end of the first half to preserve the 4-0 win for WT.