LeBaron Hollimon knew it would just be a matter of time before his Kansas Wesleyan Men’s Soccer team got a tally in the win column.
The Coyotes did just that on Wednesday night against Doane. Israel Good (FR/Beaumont, Calif.) recorded a hat trick and three others netted goals as KWU cruised to a 6-0 win over the Tigers at Graves Family Sports Complex.
“Honestly, the biggest emotion is relief,” Hollimon said. “We had some tough early matches where we just didn’t perform well and we put some things together last game and we put a few more things together tonight and got the win.
Good scored the first two goals of the night for the Coyotes, the first in the sixth minute, taking a ball into the box and shooting inside the unguarded far post.
His second goal came in the 24th minute, in almost an identical shot, this time assisted by David Bellin (SR/Berlin, Germany).
The 2-0 difference would hold to the half.
“Israel has been reaping the rewards of the hard work he has been putting in during training,” Hollimon said. “He’s been getting looks and been finishing in training and he just did what he has been doing this entire training camp.”
Jesus Genaro Macias (JR/Garden City, Kan.) scored the first of four goals in the second half for the Coyotes in the 51st, followed by Good completing the hat trick in the 65th minute.
Pedro Daniel Rodriguez (SR/Moorpark, Calif.) scored Wesleyan’s fifth goal finishing a rebound off his initial shot that was saved off the Doane keeper.
David Bellin capped the scoring with a goal in the 73rd minute.
Hollimon was pleased with his team’s effort and response to early-season adversity.
“It’s a process. You have to go through those hardships to get to the motherland, so to speak,” he said. “Those games that we struggled it, they were good for us in the sense in that it exposed us to some things we weren’t good at and gave us a chance to work on them.”
KWU outshot Doane 18-12 in the match, led by Good with six. Oswaldo Diaz-Lopez (FR/Bryan, Texas) picked up his first clean sheet in goal with five saves.
The Coyotes are back in action on Saturday, heading to Fremont, Neb. to take on Midland in a final non-conference tune-up before facing No. 2 ranked Oklahoma Wesleyan on September 18 in Bartlesville.