TJC Soccer Teams Ease Past Lon Morris

November 7, 2011

Junior Spinks, a freshman forward from Brooklyn, N.Y., scored his first hat trick for Tyler Junior College as the No. 4 Apaches beat Lon Morris, 7-0, Tuesday night in their final regular season home match at Pat Hartley Field.

The Apaches (11-1-2, 6-0 Region XIV) will most likely be back at home for the regional tournament at the end of this month. Meanwhile, the No. 1 Apache Ladies (15-0, 3-0) notched their fourth shutout in a row as they blanked Lon Morris, 8-0, in the first game of the doubleheader.

Men

Lon Morris goalkeeper Carson Fugate, a Robert E. Lee graduate, kept the match from getting out of hand early with impressive work in the net. Fugate finished with 20 saves and held the Apaches to three goals until midway through the second half.

“He did a nice job, he really did,” TJC coach Steve Clements said of the way Fugate held up against target practice.

Spinks gave the Apaches a 3-0 lead in the 30th minute of the match after receiving a short pass from Daniel Werken at the far post. Spinks scored back-to-back in the second half — and Tom McCarthy had both assists — for a 6-0 lead. Alan Rovira added the seventh goal on an assist from Jose France.

Sophomore forward Sammy Dieng struck the first two goals in the eighth and 11th minutes. He controlled a long pass from Ashley Reece on the first one and scored easily going toward the keeper. Dieng’s speed was an even bigger factor on the second goal as he caught up to a long free kick from Byron Peters and struck a header from 10 yards.

The Apaches had the Bearcats on the ropes for the first 23 minutes of the second half before breaking through with a scoring barrage. Oniel Fisher made it 4-0 with 21:52 remaining and Iko DeOlivera had the assist.

Lon Morris finished with two shots for the match.

TJC’s next match is Friday night at San Jacinto.