In the season opener for the Howard Payne University men’s soccer team, the Yellow Jackets came out with a 3-2 win over the visiting Huston-Tillotson University Rams.

The game winner came from freshman, Luis Tamez, when Misael Carreno made a tight pass between the defenders and caught Luis in stride to finish for the goal in the 78 minute.

The scoring started in the 11 minute when Cameron Jannati hit a free kick from the right side of the field that swung in and found Chris Thompson, who flicked it to Shane Cazad for the goal.

The Rams answered back just 5 minutes later in the 15 minute on a counter attack with a goal. At that point the game was tied at 1-1.

The Jackets took the lead just before half in the 40 minute off another free kick, but this time from Ben Bishop to defender Paul Deets as he flicked a header into the back of net pass the keeper. That score was pivotal, giving the one goal advantage and the momentum to the Jackets entering the half.

The second half started competitive with both teams having multiple chances to score. The Jackets and Rams scored one goal each in the second half securing the win for Howard Payne.

Malcolm Framjee had 3 saves in goal for the Jackets in the second half, while Kyle Huesing had 1 in the first.

The Jackets had 7 shots on goal to the Rams 6, but were double up on corner kicks 8 to 4. Fouls finished at HTU 11 and HPU 5.

The Jackets won their three pre-season exhibition matches and now stand at 1-0-0 to start the regular season. Huston-Tillotson goes to 0-2-1 overall.

The next game for HPU men is at 3:00 Saturday, Aug. 4 at Citizens National Bank Soccer Field against Lubbock Christian University.