BAKERSFIELD, Calif.--The Bakersfield men's soccer team defeated Houston Baptist 2-1 in Western Athletic Conference men's soccer action Friday night.

Freshman Jonathan Colunga (Lindsay, Calif., Lindsay HS) scored his first career goal just eight minutes into the match. Colunga broke the seal with a 15-yarder that went into the lower right of the Huskies' goal. David Velasquez (R-Jr., Los Angeles, Calif., Locke HS) made it 2-0 in the 41st minute off a Hugo Vinales (Fr., Palm Springs, Calif., Palm Springs HS) cross from five yards out.

Houston Baptist scored in the 76th minute when Kyle Herbison converted a direct kick following a Bakersfield foul. The Huskies pressed, with a pair of shots being blocked by the 'Runner defense in the final nine minutes. With under three to play, the Huskies had back-to-back corner kicks, but both set pieces resulted in shots that went wide.

The Roadrunners were frustrated by the Houston Baptist defense, resulting in 12 offsides calls. The Huskies outshot Bakersfield 16-15, but the 'Runners put nine shots on goal, compared to five for HBU. Anthony Perez (R-So., Fontana, Calif., Bloomington HS) made three saves to earn his third victory of the season.

"Once we went 2-0 up, we took our foot off the pedal a little bit and allowed them back into it, but it was a decent performance," said Bakersfield head coach Simon Tobin. "We're trying to instill in our team a harder work ethic. We have a good team, we are just young. Even tonight, we are made some very young, naïve mistakes. We have to be peaking at conference time. I don't feel there's a team in this conference that we should be scared of. It was a pleasing victory for us."

The Roadrunners host Kansas CIty at 2:30 on Sunday afternoon.

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