College Sports

By JOE BUIE
Staff Writer

The Tyler Junior College men's soccer team is off to a perfect start.

Not only are the Apaches not allowing any goals, they are generating more scoring as evidenced by Friday's 2-0 win over Richland at Pat Hartley Field.

Richland (2-3) is the defending national champion in Division III and ranked No. 1 in the preseason, while the Apaches are No. 9 in Division I.

TJC (4-0) has now outscored its four opponents, 12-0, including two wins over highly ranked Division I programs.

"The most pleasing part � it's been all shutouts," said TJC head coach Steve Clements. "Defensively, we're doing our job but the difference is we're sticking the ball in the net some."

Dan Shannon, a freshman forward from England, scored the Apaches' first goal within the first two minutes of the match. Sophomore Deni Lulic had the assist off a cross.

TJC continued to control the shots-on-goal and corner kicks, but the game remained 1-0 until the 31:43 mark of the second half.

The Apaches put together a well-executed attack from midfield down the right sideline. Freshman Kenny Mena delivered a crossing pass deep in Richland territory to sophomore Adam Girdlestone, who fired the shot past the keeper to make it 2-0.

"Both goals were very nice-looking tonight," Clements said.

Former Robert E. Lee standout Juan Robles played the entire match in goal for the Apaches. Robles is rotating with sophomore keepers Ben Paneccasio and Sam Gordon.

"They've all had a big game under their belt," Clements said.

The Apaches will be in action again today at home against Cedar Valley at 7 p.m.

The TJC women's team (1-1) will be at Eastfield for a 4 p.m. start.