SEARCY, ARKANSAS – UT Tyler men's soccer picked up their second win of the season and moved their unbeaten streak to four games as they took down Harding by a score of 2-1.
 
For the second consecutive game, it was all Patriots in the first half as they controlled the pace of the game over most of the first 45 minutes. That in large part was due to Harding drawing a red card just 11 minutes into the contest, making them a man down for the remainder of the match.
 
An early shot on goal at the 10 minute mark for Ben Asiaba marked the sign of things to come for the Patriots, as they would go on to outshoot the Bisons 7-3 in the first half.
 
That shot from Asiaba spurred a run that saw the Patriots outshoot the Bisons 5-1 over the next 14 minutes, including the two premier opportunities in the first half.
 
The first of those two opportunites came from the foot of Rodrigo Mendes, who picked up a loose ball off of a poor corner clearance and laced a shot from just outside the box that caught all of the crossbar before rebounding back and a foul ended the Patriots threat at the 23 minute mark.
 
Just minutes later, it was a run strung together with clean passing from the Patriots that got Thato Meko into free space all by himself. He drew out the goalkeeper from his post and he went on to try to chip it over, but the ball caught just enough of the crossbar to bounce over the net and result in a goal kick.
 
The offensive pressure continued into the second half, as the Patriots earned a quick corner and put up a pair of shots in the first few minutes.
 
At the 51:59 mark, all of that offensive pressure paid off, as UT Tyler finally broke through with their first goal of the game. A beautiful pass from the right sideline bounced through the box to a sprinting Kari Eydal, and he delivered a perfect pass into the middle of the box and a waiting Johnathan Sosa smashed it home with his right foot for the 1-0 lead.
 
Six minutes later, the Patriots kept their foot on the gas pedal as another set of beautiful passes led to their second goal of the match. This time a pass from just outside the left side of the box found an open Asiaba on the right side. He made a nice dribble move down to the touch line before whipping in a hard pass that found the foot of Lukas Paulun for a 2-0 lead.
 
The forward press from the Patriots continued over the next few minutes, but at the 65^th minute mark the Bisons began to get their offense churning for really the first time all game. Over the next 18 minutes, the Bisons outshot UT Tyler 4-1 before finally breaking through on their own at the 83 minute mark of the half to cut the lead down to 2-1.
 
That would be the final goal of the contest as the Patriots pick up their fourth consecutive decision and move to 2-1-2. The Patriots outshot the Bisons 16-9 on the game and held a 5-3 advantage in shots on goal.
 
Johnathan Sosa gets his first goal of the season while Eydal adds his first assist of his Patriots career. Lukas Paulun picked up his team leading third goal of the season as Asiaba also earned his first assist of his Patriots career.
 
UT Tyler will continue their road trip for one more game as they head to Oklahoma City to take on Oklahoma Christian on September 20.