Big first half leads Tiger soccer team to 4-1 win of season-opener

Opening its season at Eastern Oklahoma State College on Sunday, the No. 6-ranked Cowley College men's soccer team raced out to a 3-0 halftime lead and cruised to the 4-1 road win.

Cowley got the scoring started early as Carmelo Bello scored off a terrific assist from Takuto Kawase only three minutes into the contest. Only 12 minutes later, Shogo Haraikawa scored off another assist from Kawase to increase the Tigers' lead to 2-0.

Kohsuke Fukudome would cap the scoring in the opening half off an assist from Jin Tokishi as Cowley went into halftime with a commanding 3-0 advantage.

"The boys had a great first half, creating many scoring chances and being solid defensively," Cowley assistant coach Marcos Ribeiro said.

The Tigers kept the pressure on the Mountaineers early in the second half and had an opportunity to go ahead 4-0, but Kanta Ishii was thwarted on a penalty kick. However, Cowley did not let them affect them as Kawase would score off an assist from Bello later in the half to build an insurmountable 4-0 lead.

The Mountaineers would score a goal in the final minutes, but it would not impact the final as the Tigers went on to win 4-1.

Cowley (1-0) will return to action on Saturday when they play at conference foe Garden City at 4 p.m. The Bronbusters are also 1-0 after defeating Laramie County 3-0 in their season-opener.

"The game at Garden City will be a tough one," Ribeiro said. "They have a new coach (Oscar Zeleya) who was at Dodge City for a number of years. He always has strong teams, so we expect a challenge and are excited because that is the type of game we like."