Kenyares, Funakoshi lead the way in Tigers’ 5-0 home win

The No. 5-ranked Cowley College men's soccer team got a pair of goals from sophomores Mate Kenyares and Sora Funakoshi in a 5-0 win over Seward County Wednesday night at the Mark A. Phillips Athletic Complex.

The victory was Cowley's fourth in a row, as they are now 11-1 overall and 7-1 in the Jayhawk Conference.

On Wednesday, Kenyares got the scoring started only five minutes into the contest as he scored off an assist from Funakoshi. Seventeen minutes later, Kenyares assisted on a goal by Funakoshi to increase Cowley's lead to 2-0. Funakoshi now leads the team with nine goals on the season.

The Tigers were not done there as Funakoshi added his second goal of the opening half only six minutes later as he scored off an assist from Carlos Noboa.

Cowley would add two more goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half as they cruised to the 5-0 win. Sota Nakazono assisted on both second-half goals as Vitor Hugo Lopes scored his third goal of the season, and Mate Kenyares added his fifth goal of the year.

"Mate's job as a striker is to put the ball in the back of the net, and he did a good job of doing that, while Sora creates and does a little bit of everything for us," Cowley head coach Ruy Vaz said.

Cowley out-shot Seward 31-3 and placed 13 shots on the goal. The Saints are now 5-6-2 overall and 1-6-1 in the conference.

"I was proud of the guys for staying composed the entire 90 minutes," Vaz said. "We did a good job keeping Seward away from our goal."

The Tigers will now turn its attention to an important road contest Saturday at 3 p.m. in Dodge City. The Conquistadors are 6-3-2 overall and 3-3-2 in the conference. Cowley defeated Dodge City 4-2 on September 6 in Arkansas City.

"Dodge City is a very physical team with a lot of talent," Vaz said. "Every chance we create, we need to have a killer instinct and put those opportunities away."

Photo Credit: Aigiza Nasyrova