FORT WORTH –
Hector Romero notched a hat trick, putting him among the top three goal scorers in the NAIA, as he led Wayland to a 4-2 victory over Texas Wesleyan here Friday night.
"Every player was brilliant today. Hector put in a man-of-the-match performance for us," Wayland coach
Robert Ssejjemba said following the match at Polytechnic High School.
After
Marco Magnoli scored for the Pioneers (4-1) – his third goal of the season – just 3½ minutes in, Romero scored his first of the night – assisted by
Alessandro Felizzola – in the 36
th minute, making it 2-0 at the half.
Texas Wesleyan (1-3) made it 2-1 with its first goal 10 minutes after halftime, but Romero struck again, with an assist by
Santiago Hernandez, in the 80
th minute for a 3-1 Wayland lead.
Just over two minutes later, the Rams again pulled to within one, but a little over four minutes after that Romero gave Wayland some breathing room with an unassisted goal in the 86
th minute.
"I thought we did an excellent job against a very physical team," Ssejjemba said. "It was not an easy task to break them down because they defended very deep, but we were patient in the build-up and were clinical when it mattered."
Romero has now scored 11 goals – including a program record five in the season-opener – in Wayland's five matches, leaving the senior from Manteca, Calif., third in the NAIA. Stefan Cventanovic of Oklahoma Wesleyan has scored a ridiculous 26 goals in seven games while Inaki Aldao of Bellevue (Neb.) has 14 goals in 10 matches.
Wayland outshot the Rams, 16-7, with nine shots on-goal compared to two for the home team. Romero managed nine shots, six of which were on target.
Elias Zamora played the entire way in goal for Wayland, improving to 2-1.
The Pioneers play their next-to-last match of the fall – and their last home outing – at 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30 against Central Christian (Kan.) (4-3). The Tigers won their first three games of the season before dropping their next three, including 2-0 to Southwestern Christian on Friday.
