CONWAY - Hendrix defeated East Texas Baptist 1-0 on Wednesday evening at Warrior Soccer Field to get off the mark for 2026 and give head coach
Bobby Peters his first win with the Orange and Black.
Josh Montgomery's solo effort 13 minutes from time was enough to make the difference between the two sides and put Hendrix in the win column after losing four consecutive matches entering the night.
Cam Joniec stood tall in goal for the Warriors, recording seven saves over his 90 minutes in goal to earn his first shutout of the season. Offensively, Montgomery and
Tripp Ortega both put two shots on frame.
In the first half, Joniec was called into action three times while seeing several efforts narrowly miss from ETBU. The Warriors generated early shots from
Ryan Carroll and
J.J. Goodsky-Evans, and Montgoery forced ETBU's Ryan Lord into action with a long-range effort 19 minutes into the match. Despite consistent pressure throughout the opening 45 minutes from the visitors, both sides went into halftime scoreless.
The Tigers kept up the pressure in the second half, and it was only a couple fine saves from Joniec and several timely blocks from Hendrix's back-line that kept ETBU off the board. Hendrix failed to generate any true looks at goal until a mistaken back pass from the Tigers put Montgomery in on goal. With only the keeper to beat, the junior curled an outside-the-box effort up and over the keeper to mark his third goal of the season give his side what would end being the game-winning goal.
The Warriors were able to kill off the remaining 13 minutes to see out the win, with Joniec making two saves in the final ten minutes to secure the shutout.
The win takes Hendrix to 1-4-1 on the year. They will now gear up for league play in the SCAC as they host #23 Colorado College on Friday evening in Conway. Kick-off at Warrior Soccer Field is set for 5:00 PM. The game will be streamed live on FloCollege.
