Marshall, Texas-Thomas Mills scored in the first half and Shaun Keane added another in the second half to push the U of O men's soccer team past East Texas Baptist University 2-0 Saturday and give Ozarks its second straight American Southwest Conference win.
Ozarks improves to 7-5-2 overall and 3-1-1 in the ASC. The win sets up another important home match for the Eagles this coming week. Ozarks will host conference leader Hardin-Simmons University October 23 and then host Howard Payne University October 25 for "Senior Day."
Against ETBU (3-6-2, 2-4-0 ASC), Mills provided the Eagles with a goal in the 22nd on a penalty kick. It was Mills second goal of the season. Holding a 1-0 halftime lead, the Eagles went ahead 2-0 when Keane knocked in a header from the left side of the box in the 57th minute. Mills would receive the assist. Keane has scored four goals in the last four matches. The Eagles had five shots in the first half, but only two in the second half.
"We continue to play well in the back and keep the ball out of our net," said Head Coach Matt Torok. "ETBU was another dangerous attacking team, but our back line of Travis Leach, Luke Byrne, Daniel Valencia and Emilio Vega, along with our goalkeeper Austin Benner, gave great effort and made it difficult to find our net. We managed some attacks that got us a penalty kick and another set piece goal after getting the ball into the attacking third. Going on the road and bringing six points home this weekend in conference play is really tough. Our guys continue to fight and scrap for results."
Ozarks' defense fought off six shots and five corner kicks in the second half alone. Goalkeeper Austin Benner totaled eight saves in the match.
"Thomas Mills scored a great penalty kick for his second goal of the season. It is nice to get one of our top goal scorers from last season scoring in conference matches. I am proud of the effort our guys demonstrated over the weekend, but we have already discussed the amount of work that needs to be done. We can enjoy tonight, but we will be back to work on Monday preparing for our next conference match."
