MIAMI, Okla. — The only thing hotter than the weather Sunday was the offensive explosion put forth by Allen Community College’s soccer teams.
The Red Devil women erupted for their highest scoring game in nearly two years, exploding for three second half goals in a 4-1 win over Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College.
The Allen men continued the torrid play, particularly in the second half, shutting out the Golden Norsemen 5-0.
The games were the season openers for both squads.
“We’re very happy with how things went,” said Red Devil women’s head coach Jeremy McGinnis, in his first year at the helm at ACC. “We started off a little slowly, but we were able to make some adjustments and things really started to click.”
The Red Devils were led by freshman Lexi Godlove, who scored a goal in the first half and two more after intermission to break a 1-1 tie.
Godlove also assisted Kyleigh Rowe on ACC’s final goal of the day.
Also earning assists were Raegan Vigola, Jordan Vigola and Rowe.
Goalkeeper Keelie Arbuckle gathered in 15 saves.
The last time ACC women scored as many as four goals in a game was in 2001.
McGinnis noted Allen scored only three goals — combined — in 2012.
“It really shows how quickly things can change for us,” McGinnis said, noting Allen lost to this same NEO squad 4-0 last season. “I really have to give credit to the administration for allowing us to add a coach to help us with recruiting and to the girls for the work they’ve done.”
THE RED Devil men also did most of their work after intermission after Brett Rex scored in the 25th minute to give ACC a 1-0 lead at halftime on an assist from Dominic Nwagwu.
Dorian Fox was next with a goal off a feed from David Lam.
Caleb Mills took an assist from Eric Rivera to score the fourth goal.
Julio Guerrero blasted in the final goal on a penalty kick.
“We definitely played well,” ACC men’s coach Doug Desmarteau said. “It was pretty hot out there, so we rotated in a lot of guys. Everybody got to play, and to have different people responsible for each goal was big. If you have to rely on only one player, the other team has the ability to shut you down.”
THE ALLEN squads will return to action Friday and Sunday at St. Louis. They’ll each play Lewis and Clark Community College before taking on Southwestern College on Sunday.
“It’s going to be a big test for us,” McGinnis said. “Lewis and Clark is always a quality program.”
Desmarteau agreed.
“We’re going to face a couple of quality teams out there,” he said. “We have our work cut out for us, but we’re excited.”
