Pride open conference play with 1-0 shutout at Park
PARKVILLE, Mo. - Getting their first taste of Heart of America Athletic Conference action in the 2025 season, the No. 20 Clarke University men's soccer team earned a 1-0 victory on the road against Park University on Saturday afternoon.
With their performance on Saturday, the Pride recorded their third-straight shutout, including the third-straight shutout on the individual side for graduate goalkeeper Lucas Fontana, who made four saves for the second-straight game for his second win in goal of the 2025 season.
From an opportunities standpoint, the fina box score makes the game look very even as the Pirates took eight total shots to CU's seven and Clarke only took one more corner kick that Park at 7-6 but the Pride were able to cash in on their first of just two shots on goal over the entire 90 minutes, scoring less than 15 seconds into the second half.
It would be senior Hector Medrano to be the first member of the CU roster to net his second goal of the season when he pressured a PU defender immediate on the kickoff with the help of Yuto Nishio also pressing, Medrano would steal the ball and shoot on his second touch from the top of the 18-yard box for what would be the eventual game-winning goal, just 12 seconds in to the second half.
The other members of the Pride lineup to get shots off in the game included Alfonso Gonzalez firing a pair of shots, including the only other shot on goal against Park goalkeeper Felipe Ramos as Carles Aparisi, Nishio, William Arana, and Alvaro Martinez all took one shot in the game along with Medrano's goal coming on his only shot in the game.
Aparisi, Gonzalez, Daniel Valverde, Juan Pablo Cortes, and Xzavier Campa all played 90 minutes as field players for CU along with Fontana in net to produce Clarke's third win of the season, maintaining their unbeaten start to move to 3-0-2 through their first five games.
Pride men's soccer will welcome another top-10 NAIA ranked team to Burrows Field for the second-straight home game when they host Heart rival and NAIA No. 5 William Penn University on Tuesday, Sept. 9 for a 5:00 p.m. CT scheduled opening kickoff against the Statesmen.