Air Force Downs Houston Baptist, 2-1

HOUSTON – Air Force rallied from an early deficit to overcome Houston Baptist, 2-1, in a Sunday afternoon Western Athletic Conference matchup at the Emery Weiner School. The Falcons, now 3-0 in the conference, improve to 4-4-1 on the season while HBU drops to 2-8 overall with a 0-3 mark in the league.

For the second-straight match, the Air Force offense doubled-up the opposition in shot attempts and shots on target, taking 20 total shots and nine shots on goal. Air Force averages five more shots per game than their opponents.

Despite the Huskies getting out to an early lead with a goal in the sixth minute, the Falcons did not relent, pushing the pace for another 70 minutes before scoring the tying strike.

Tristan Trager, who took a career-high eight shots on Friday, led the offense again with the equalizing goal in the 75^th minute. Linchpin defender London Aghedo and senior midfielder Michael Neacsu assisted Trager in the strike. Trager tallied three goals on the weekend and has five to his credit this season. He concluded the match with a match-high seven shots, four on target.

Less than 10 minutes later, Aghedo assisted freshman teammate Kobey Stoup with the game-winning goal in the 84^th minute. The goal marked the first of Stoup's collegiate career. Aghedo, who has anchored the Falcon defense all season, has three assists this year. Aghedo, Trager and junior defender Jake Chaffetz clocked 90 minutes of action.

At the final horn, senior goalie Kainoa Likewise secured his fourth win in goal this season. He made two saves on the match.

"I was proud of the guys for overcoming the deficit and sticking to the game plan," head coach Doug Hill said. "We showed a lot of tenacity and grit to come back and get the win. It's nice to get conference wins on the road, now we need to focus on closing out our next two at home."

Next up, Air Force returns to Cadet Soccer Stadium to host UTRGV and Incarnate Word, Friday (Oct. 8) and Sunday (Oct. 10), respectively. Action is slated for 6 p.m. MT and 1 p.m. MT.

Current Defense Department and Air Force Academy rules require all individuals to wear a mask inside Academy facilities. All individuals who have not been fully vaccinated must wear masks outside on military installations.

Footer

The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the u.s air force of non-u.s. government sites or the information, products, or services contained therein. Although the u.s. air force may or may not use these sites as additional distribution channels for department of defense information, it does not exercise editorial control over all of the information that you may find at these locations. Such links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this website.

Players Mentioned

London Aghedo

Jake Chaffetz

Kainoa Likewise

Michael Neacsu

Kobey Stoup

Tristan Trager