The second half proved to be the difference for the Allen men’s soccer team when they took down Hesston 3-2 in their home opener Saturday afternoon.
The Red Devils (3-0) scored early on in the match before the Larks scored twice, once before and once after halftime. Allen’s Patrick Alouidor struck with two goals near the end of the match for the 3-2 win.
“We still had to keep playing even though we were down,” said Alouidor. “One thing is we don’t lose at home. We have a lot of confidence here and we fought for each other until the end. We had to stick to the game plan and communicate with each other.”
Ayoup Bader put Allen ahead shortly into the first half when he took an unassisted ball and shot it in from outside the penalty box for the early 1-0 lead. 
Hesston then knotted the match when Jordan Richer was fed a pass by Anthony DeLeon which he finished for the 1-1 score.
To begin the second half, Fernando Guzman struck for the Larks when he scored off an Oscar Becerra assist for the 2-1 lead.
“When we were down we had to keep the same energy we had in the first half even though they were up by one,” said Alouidor. “We had to keep our heads up the whole time and that’s how we got back in the game. We trust each other.”
Alouidor stepped up for the Red Devils when he scored from the left side to knot the match at 2-2.
“Ayoup (Bader) and I have this chemistry and we’ve been comfortable with each other for a while now,” Alouidor said. “We talk about how we want to manage things in the middle of the field and he knows I’m fast and where to find me.”
He then scored only a few minutes later off an assist from Bader for the 3-2 advantage and victory.
Hesston had no more answers offensively as they were held to only five shots on goal with two of them hitting the back of the net. Luis Jimenez was solid in goal for the Larks, making five saves out of Allen’s eight shots on goal.
Alouidor led the Red Devils with four shots on goal and eight total shots. Pedro De Silva also had two shots on goal and three total while Bader collected three shots.
Allen goalkeeper Gaurav Sandhu made two saves out of Hesston’s only four shots on goal.
The Red Devils will head to Pratt Community College for a match on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
