Photo courtesy of UMHB Athletics
BELTON — It is becoming more and more routine as the seasons pass by. Take a look at the American Southwest Conference men’s soccer standings come mid-October, and you can count on UMHB sitting atop the group. You can also count on them staying there.
Two Saturdays ago, The Cru’s performance at Howard Payne ensured that will, in fact, be the case in yet another season.
As The Cru took care of business in Brownwood, edging Howard Payne, 2-1, Ben Allen’s squad simultaneously clinched the program’s fifth consecutive ASC regular season title, the last four of which have been won under Allen’s leadership.
The track record over the last five seasons speaks for itself, telling a story of dominance within the regular season conference schedule. Since 2021, The Cru is 36-2-2 against ASC competition, and 57-19-10 overall.
“I think for any team—and not that the other teams in our league aren’t doing this–but when you work hard and bring in the right guys who want to win and do things right on and off the field, you’re going to have success,” Allen said last week.
“I think a lot of it has been in the recruiting process, bringing in guys who want to be in the right culture and right mentality. And there’s times that the ball bounces your way here and there, and even when you don’t play well, you grind out a result. I think that’s been the story of the last five-year run with our team.”
And it’s been especially true in the current season, for a team that is 12-1-3 overall and has won its first four ASC games by a combined score of 16-1. Veteran starters, such as seniors Karsen Macias, Peyton Hoyt, and Alex Bethke, have been instrumental in maintaining the high standard.
But then there’s the freshmen who have stepped in and made an impact almost immediately, from starting goalkeeper Brett LaPorte to forward Davin Khaffaji. LaPorte, who has started the last six matches, has an .852 save percentage, and Khaffaji scored his third goal of the season a week ago in Brownwood. It all points back to the dynamic Allen spoke about, when asked how UMHB has stayed on top in the ASC for half a decade. They bring in the right players, many of whom come to Belton ready to contribute and step up alongside the team’s returning starters.
“I really do think we’ve got a good core of older guys, but this freshman class has really been awesome,” Allen said. “They’ve stepped up and they want to win. They’re fully invested in Year 1, and they’ve been pushing us along; pushing the competition, scoring goals, and helping in big moments.”
Look no further than in UMHB’s 2-2 draw at 16th-ranked Southwestern on Oct. 15. After the Pirates’ scored two unanswered goals to go up 2-1 in the 82nd minute, The Cru responded, with Benae evening the score just before the final horn in the 88th minute. Who provided the assist for the match-tying goal? Freshman Billy Yonce, who also has four goals in his first collegiate season.
The contributions, both offensively and defensively, have come from all over the field. Eight different Crusaders have scored at least three goals this season, as UMHB has gone from averaging 1.6 goals per game last season to 2.5 through 16 contests this fall.
“It’s nice that we’re not heavily relying on one guy,” Allen noted. “Other guys have stepped up when we’ve needed them to step up.”
There were signs early on that this team was going to be special, and capable of keeping UMHB’s ASC regular season title streak alive. On the second weekend of the season, The Cru took a trip to play at altitude in Colorado, facing Whitman and 20th-ranked Colorado College. UMHB came away from that two-game stretch with a pair of ties, solid results against top-quality Region 10 competition. As it has turned out, Whitman is leading the Northwest Conference standings and remains unbeaten, at 11-0-5 overall. Colorado College is also unbeaten to this point, 10-0-6 overall and second in the SCAC title race.
“Going to Colorado, playing in altitude, and getting two results, I think it showed our team that we weren’t there yet, but we had the ability to be a good team,” Allen said, looking back. “That we could go to tough places and play well. I think that built some momentum to go, ‘Hey, we’ve got something here. We’ve just got to be consistent and keep pushing.’”
They took that message to heart, and continued developing over the course of the next several weeks. After taking a 3-1 loss at St. Thomas in their first game back in Texas, UMHB rattled off eight straight wins for their longest win streak since 2022. Four of those victories came away from Belton, including a 2-0 shutout of ETBU in ASC play.
All of it, up through last Saturday’s regular season-title clinching win, speaks to a team with strong leadership and a mature approach. They’ve won away from home, found success with different players on different nights, and battled two nationally-ranked opponents to draws in a pair of true road matches. But that’s not anything new for UMHB men’s soccer.
“It’s been a legacy of having older guys who have seen from years before what leadership looks like, both good and bad,” Allen said. “We learn from past mistakes and experiences, and being able to see what works and what doesn’t. It’s not a cookie cutter approach—every team and every year is different—but we’re able to see success and model that.”
With the ASC regular season title already claimed, what’s next? For The Cru, the answer is very straightforward: be playing their best soccer in November. It’s a mentality Allen often talks about, because while winning in the regular season is important, this is a program with postseason aspirations. For as good as the Crusaders have been through September and October this fall, that’s not where they want this season’s memories to end.
With the ASC regular season finale on the docket next Saturday, the push to improve—the same push that came out of the weekend in Colorado nearly seven weeks ago—isn’t stopping. Not even close.
“It’s been a consistent message of, ‘We’re not done,’” Allen said. “We haven’t completed the task. For us, we want to be playing our best soccer and be peaking at this time of the year. We’re hoping to continue to trend up and not be settled. At the end of the day, I think our league has shown, anybody can beat anybody on any given day. There’s a lot of quality in the ASC. It’s not easy.”
After shutting out ETBU in a dominant 5-0 home win on Sunday afternoon, UMHB heads to San Antonio for a non-conference tilt with No. 11 Trinity on Wednesday night. The regular season finale at Hardin-Simmons is set for Nov. 1.
Then it’ll be on to the ASC Tournament, hosted in Belton from Nov. 6-8. Two victories there and UMHB would be into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022.
But Allen isn’t looking that far ahead.
“We’ve got to take one game at a time. I’m not trying to be super cliche, but it’s just true. You’ve got to take one result at a time, and continue to build.”
