Seward County Men’s Soccer continued their 2024 season on Wednesday with a four-hour trip to Salina where they faced an NAIA opponent in the Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes where the Saints scored early to take a lead that only grew with Seward County grabbing a 3-0 lead over the Coyotes.
Javier Ruchelli Alvarez got the scoring started seven minutes into the first half with Leonardo Leitao feeding him a pinpoint pass that Ruchelli cashed in for a goal to give the Saints a 1-0 lead over Kansas Wesleyan. The Coyotes tried to respond with a pair of shots but were stopped in their tracks by the SCCC defense led by Bruno Mestres who knocked away both shot attempts to keep his team’s lead alive. Seward County’s offense continued to push the tempo against the Coyotes as the Saints charged ahead with multiple shot on goal attempts to keep Kansas Wesleyan on their toes. Leitao took control of the ball and sent up a pass that landed in front of Chad Haynes who took it the rest of the way up field before launching it into the center of the goal for a 2-0 Seward County lead.
After recording both assists on the Saints’ first two goals, Leitao put his name in the scoring column for Seward County as he stepped up for a PK attempt and faked out the Coyotes’ goalkeeper to sink in the third goal of the afternoon for SCCC. From there the Saints managed to maintain full control over their opponents the rest of the way to take their second win of the 2024 season 3-0 over Kansas Wesleyan.
Leitao finished the game with four total points tanks to his second half goal combined with his two assists that allowed Ruchelli and Haynes to score goals of their own. Seward County now improves to 2-1-3 overall on the 2024 campaign and remain 0-0-3 in Jayhawk conference action. The Saints will return home to prepare for a matchup against Dodge City on Saturday September 14th with kickoff scheduled for 4:00 PM on Redskin Field.