Kearney and Argueta lead Cyclones to win
After a tough 6-0 loss to Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln Monday night on the road, the HCHS Cyclones returned home to Merrill Field to take on the Carroll Tigers and less than 10 minutes into the game, Senior Cyclone Elmer Argueta scored his first goal of the night, which would be all the Cyclones would need en route to a 4-0 victory.
“It does feel good,” said Cyclone Head Coach Dave Voge. “It’s a confidence builder for the boys. We started out well. We told them we had to. We’re getting down to the stretch right before the playoffs, and we’re trying to build confidence, and they did a great job tonight.”
Not long after his first goal, Argueta scored again giving him his second goal of the night and ninth of the season, the most among any Cyclone this season.
“We changed up the formation a little bit tonight just to get Elmer the ball a little more,” Voge said. “It’s been a struggle. We’ve played a lot of great teams and we thought we’d switch it up a little bit and it worked out great.”
The Cyclones took a 2-0 lead into halftime, but knew with another 40 minutes ahead of them, it was not the time to take their foot off the gas pedal, and come out with a strong second half.
“He [Voge] was just telling us to make sure we stay in the game,” said Senior Ian Kearney. “We wanted to put them out of it, and extend that lead.”
Less than 10 minutes into the second half, Kearney got in on the action, scoring his first goal of the night as he found an opening on the left side of the net, getting the ball past Tiger goalkeeper Tanner Heithoff to make it 3-0 Cyclones.
Both sides went quiet on offense for a little while until Kearney once again found an opening scoring his second goal of the game and fourth of the season.
“We were just playing through those channels, exposing their defense, and making it happen,” Kearney said.
The Cyclones won the game, their fourth of the season, moving their record to 4-9 on the season.
“It feels great,” Kearney added. “I think we’re a team with a lot of potential and we can get these wins as long as all the pieces are falling in place and everybody’s doing what they’re supposed to do.”
The Cyclones return to action Monday on the road against the undefeated 14-0 Lewis Central Titans. The Titans are led by Brayden Shepard with 14 goals, Adriene Robles with 17 assists, and goalkeeper Carlos Andrade with 37 saves.
“You never know, you roll the ball out there, and both teams have a chance to win,” Voge said. “Lewis Central is a top notch team and they’ve proven that by beating everybody in our conference and outside of it. It’s going to be tough, but we just have to stay positive and just do the best we can. If we keep it away from them, it gives them less chances to score.”