ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's soccer team got second half goals from
Shane Cairns (North Olmstead, OH/North Olmstead) and
Pablo Gomez (Madrid, Spain/IES Neil Armstrong) and a strong performance in goal from
Davis Joseph (Andover, KS/Andover Central) as it came away victorious in its season opener Friday, downing Northeastern State 2-1 at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.
After a scoreless first half in which the Miners outshot the RiverHawks 5-1, S&T broke on top in the 61
st minute when Cairns got a ball at his feet and hit a shot that ricocheted off a NSU defender and dribbled past goalkeeper Niklas Kirhoff.
From there, Joseph held down the fort in the nets, coming out of the net to stop Nick Garcia on a breakaway in the 65
th minute and making a leaping stop on Luan Lamas moments later. He made another big stop in the 72
nd minute as he dove to his right to turn away Jack Barrier on a one-timer.
S&T got an insurance goal in the 81
st minute as Gomez ran down a loose ball on a goal kick just outside the box and lofted a shot over the head of Kirhoff to extend the advantage. The Miners ended up needing that goal, as the RIverHawks were awarded a penalty kick with under two minutes remaining – which was converted by Flynn Semmerling – to cut the lead to a goal. The Miners held off a last-ditch effort by the RiverHawks to get the tying goal.
NSU outshot the Miners 15-5 in the second half and finished with a 16-10 advantage in shots, but Joseph made seven saves overall to preserve the victory for S&T.
The win was the first for the Miners in a season opener since 2019 and just their third in the last eight seasons. S&T will return to play Sunday when it hosts Rogers State in a 2:30 p.m. game at Allgood-Bailey Stadium. Rogers State is also 1-0 on the year after knocking off Eastern New Mexico 4-2 on Thursday.
