TAHLEQUAH - Northeastern State's offense broke through in their GAC/MIAA opener beating Harding 4-2 on Thursday night.
The win for NSU is their ninth consecutive over Harding as they move to 1-3-3 (1-0 GAC/MIAA) and are now 17-0 all time at home against the Bisons (0-3-3, 0-1 GAC/MIAA).
Harding jumped ahead early scoring their first goal against in six matches during the fifth minute. The visitors held the lead until
Mario Sapena connected on a corner kick from
Kei Nagakura in the 23rd minute. Sapena put the RiverHawks up just before the half with his second goal of the night in the 43rd, landing a kick off a deflection while inside the box.
Nagakura opened the lid for the scoring quickly in the second half scoring twice in the opening five minutes. Both of his goals came within 90 seconds of each other.
Luis Felipe Karam was credited with the assist in his first goal.
Overall, the RiverHawks logged a season-high ten shots on-goal across 22 attempts, marking the third time in the team's last four contests that they've recorded at least 17 tries. Meanwhile, NSU held HU without a single attempt for over 50 minutes of match time after the visiting side's initial strike.
The RiverHawks finish the brief homestand this weekend with Ouachita Baptist journeying to DeLoache Field on Saturday with a 1 p.m. kickoff.
