Hounds upend No. 16 St. Mary's behind hat trick from Huenig

Reserves led the way on Saturday night as junior forward Nick Huenig's hat trick, Eastern New Mexico University's first in eight years, helped the Greyhounds upend 16th-ranked St. Mary's 4-2 in Lone Star Conference men's soccer action at Greyhound Stadium.

Huenig, from Lichtenberg, Germany, authored just the fifth hat trick in the 20-year history of the program and first since Ryan McManus accomplished the feat against Southern Nazarene on Halloween 2015 at Bethany, Okla.

It was the first time the Rattlers (6-3-2, 0-1-1 LSC) have allowed four goals in a match since Oct. 30, 2021 and the first time the Hounds (3-5-2, 1-1-0) have even scored against them since 2019. ENMU ended a 10-match winless streak (0-9-1) against St. Mary's, dating to a 2-1 victory in Portales on Sept. 28, 2007.

It was also the second year in a row the Hounds have beaten a ranked foe at home. They defeated then-No. 8 Midwestern State 1-0 in October of last year.

St. Mary's (6-3-2, 0-1-1 LSC), which blanked the Hounds 3-0 in non-league play at San Antonio on Sept. 27, struck first on a goal by sophomore midfielder Adam Aboohamidi 14 minutes in, but sophomore midfielder Daniel Leatherby tied it with 12 minutes left in the half on a shot from about 25 yards out. Sophomore defender Felix Drizinsky was credited with an assist on the play.

Then Huenig took over. About three minutes later, he scored on an assist from sophomore reserve forward Matteo Azambuja to put the Hounds in front for good, then added another goal just before halftime with junior midfielder Loris Tsiatsipy collecting the assist for a 3-1 advantage.

St. Mary's closed to within a goal early in the second stanza when senior midfielder Cian Foley took a cross pass and headed it into the top right corner of the net from the top of the. Huenig responded with about five minutes left, beating Rattlers keeper Andre Schlaefli 1-on-1 after taking a pass over the top from Leatherby.

"I thought the energy and effort were on point today," ENMU coach Brandon Misuraca said. "Our substitutes made immediate impacts, while being able to play on the front foot was highly beneficial for a young group."

The Hounds travel to Lubbock Christian today, then host St. Edward's in a 7 p.m. start on Saturday in conference tilts.

Angelo State blanks ENMU women – At San Angelo, Texas, ENMU's women dropped to 3-25-1 all-time against Angelo State with a 3-0 conference loss to the Rambelles.

The Greyhounds beat ASU back-to-back by 2-1 scores in 2005 and 2006, squaring the series at 2-2, but their only success since then came when they played the Rambelles to a scoreless tie in 2013 and beat them 2-0 in Portales the following year. Since then, they are 0-16 against ASU.

Angelo is coached by Travis McCorkle, who started the ENMU women's program in 2003 and the men's program the following season.

The Rambelles wasted little time jumping in front as sophomore midfielder Katelin Heise scored in the fifth minute. It stayed that way until freshman forward Grace Jordan found the back of the net nearly six minutes into the second canto, and freshman forward Mariah Griffin added the final tally about 12 minutes later.

Angelo (4-6-2, 3-2-1 LSC) had just a 6-5 margin in shots on goal and a 4-1 edge in corner kicks.

ENMU (1-7-4, 0-5-1), which has lost four in a row (all by shutout), returns to action on Saturday with a noon (MDT) clash against St. Mary's in San Antonio.

ENMU squads second in own cross country invite – ENMU's cross country teams finished second behind Amarillo College in Saturday's Greyhound Invite, run on the school's campus.

Amarillo College's men won with 25 points to 51 for the Greyhounds and 58 for Wayland Baptist. On the women's side, the Badgers tallied 38 points to 42 for ENMU, 51 for New Mexico Military and 84 for Wayland Baptist.

Freshman Matthew Guerra led ENMU's men with a second-place finish in the 8K race, posting a time of 27 minutes, 9.01 seconds. He trailed Wayland's Malachi Macias, who ran 26:52.29.

Amarillo College took the next six places in the 18-runner event. Other ENMU results had junior Ethan Woodrome 10th in 30:34.60, sophomore Emmanuel Hernandez 13th in 31:09.03, freshman Bryce Owens 14th in 31:46.94 and junior Ricky Diaz 15th in 32:15.82.

Senior Kaylan De La Rosa also turned in a second-place finish for the Hounds in the women's 6K run, clocking 24:10.73 and trailing Amarillo College's Ariyah Gomez (24:05), while senior Maritza Alvarez placed third in the 29-runner race in 24:11.24. Rounding out ENMU results were senior Lauren Griego, eighth in 26:35.20; sophomore Elise Toya, 17th in 28:59.01; freshman Mariana Marquez, 21st in 30:10.09; junior Alisha Hayde, 23rd in 31:09.80, and freshman Minerva Cerda, 25th in 32:10.74.

Next up for ENMU is the Lone Star Conference meet, which the Hounds will host on Oct. 21. The women's race is scheduled for 9:30 a.m., with the men to follow at 10:30 a.m.