TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The No. 21-ranked Northeastern State men's soccer team kicked off the 2015 regular season with a 3-0 victory over Truman State Friday night at DeLoache Field.
 
The RiverHawks (1-0) were able to outshoot the Bulldogs (0-1) 18-9 on the night and received a career-high two-goal performance from sophomore Trevor Reed.
 
The two teams went into halftime tied 0-0, and it was NSU that was able to take control in the final 45 minutes.
 
Reed's first goal came in the 62nd minute. He stole the ball from a Truman midfielder and rifled a shot from 30 yards out into the top right corner of the net. He later headed home a Brenden Bombardier cross in the 88th minute.
 
Sophomore Dominic Jangoo also scored in his first game as a member of the RiverHawks in the 74th minute. He was assisted by senior Frank Garay.
 
Senior Eric Shephard saved five shots and moved into a tie for sixth place in school history with his fifth-career shutout.
 
Northeastern State will next take on Missouri S&T at 1 p.m. Sept. 6 at DeLoache Field.
 
Scoring Summary
TSU                 0          0          –          0
NSU                 0          3          –          3
 
Individual Scoring
Trevor Reed (NSU) at 61:30 (unassisted)
Dominic Jangoo (NSU) at 73:08 (Frank Garay)
Trevor Reed (NSU) at 87:50 (Brenden Bombardier, Paul Samia)
 
Goalkeeper Saves
Drew Orf (TSU) – 7
Eric Shephard (NSU) – 5
 
NORTHEASTERN STATE COACH ROB CZLONKA
On the differences between the two halves…
"It's the first game of the season and it felt like we were just really amped up in the first half. We were hitting everything really hard, and we were trying to play really fast. I don't think we were being as responsible with our passing and our possession as we normally would be. At halftime in the locker room our seniors really settled everybody down. They told the team that we needed to just play the way we play. Then they came out and that's when you started to see what we've been seeing in practice the past couple weeks. We're getting the ball down, we're connecting our passes, we're defending as a group, and we're really not giving away chances to break us down. The first goal we won the ball we immediately went to goal and scored. That quick transition is one of the things that we want to be a hallmark of our team."
 
On the physical nature of the game…
"I would say that was one of the roughest games I've seen in a while. I don't know exactly what the cause was for that but there are a few things I would've liked to see done differently. Yes I think our guys are tough enough and strong enough to withstand that type of pressure. We've got a great deep bench. We pride ourselves on having great players on the field with guys subbing in being just as good."
 
On getting three goals in the first game…
"I'm happy with what we did. A 3-0 shutout is a solid victory. I'm more proud of the team working together as a unit to get the clean sheet. One of our goals has always to been to be better than we were the year before defensively and we've done that. I believe in our players and I think we've got really good players attacking the goal. We've got several guys who can score from several different positions. Two of the guys I thought would've scored tonight didn't, then one of our newcomers got his first goal. Trevor (Reed), who I think is an undervalued player amongst people who look at our team, scored two. I know he's capable of that. So I'm proud of what they did, but I'm not surprised."
 
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