BEEVILLE, Texas – No. 4 LSU Eunice Men's Soccer made a strong opening statement to its postseason with a 5-1 win over No. 16 Coastal Bend College on Saturday at the Cougar Soccer Field. The Bengals (13-1-1) advanced in the Gulf South District Tournament to play in semifinal action on Wednesday.
The victory was LSU Eunice's sixth against teams ranked in the NJCAA polls.
The Bengals raced out to a fast start as
Jose Luis Bustamante (Bogota, Colombia, Colegio Andino) scored in the fifth minute. The forward bounced on his opportunity as a shot off a corner kick was deflected right to him for the easy finish.
It appeared LSUE would be in for a back-and-forth afternoon as Coastal Bend would draw a penalty kick in the 25th minute. The shot sailed high over the crossbar and the Cougars would not have another solid opportunity until late in the contest.
The Bengals took advantage of the miscue as
Santiago Waites (Birmingham, AL, Oak Mountain HS) helped LSUE take a 2-0 halftime lead. Waites buried a deflected save at point blank range in the 31st minute after Bustamante's cross was received by
Alcibiades "Junior" Duran, Jr. (New Orleans, LA, East Jefferson HS) and his shot was saved.
LSUE would pour it on after half with three goals midway through the second half.
Ryan Jeanfreau (New Orleans, LA, Holy Cross HS) took in a beautiful flick from
William Saar (Monrovia, Liberia, Armstrong HS (Minn.)) into the box as he connected with his outside boot to go far post in the 52nd minute. Saar would get in the scoring ledger with a strong run down the near endline, juking a pair of Coastal defenders before burying a shot to the near side in the 60th.
Yvan-Noel Muenyi (Baton Rouge, LA, Baton Rouge Magnet HS) closed the scoring as Derick Bernard went across the box to Muenyi who would finish with a sharp dribbler past the Cougars' goalkeeper. Coastal Bend added its lone goal a minute later, finally capitalizing on a penalty kick.
Zachary Clary (Pensacola, FL, Tate HS) played strong in net for LSU Eunice, collecting 10 saves.
