Box Score CLAREMORE, Okla. – The Rogers State Men's Soccer team picked up a key victory in a much-needed situation as the Hillcats beat Newman 4-1 Saturday afternoon in a battle of two teams in the top four of the Great American Conference Standings.
 
Jaxon Pitt got things started early for the Hillcats (7-4-1, 5-4-0) at Soldier Field, scoring in the seventh minute with a strike into the off the inside of the post and into the lower right corner. Sebastian Hernandez started the play with a throw in to Jake Simpson, who flicked on a header to Pitt, who worked an opening to score his fourth of the season.
 
Less than two minutes later, Noah Robson continued the roaring start for the navy and red with a goal of the season candidate on a free kick from 25 yards out. Robson fired a left-footed strike around the wall from Newman (5-5-1, 4-4-1 GAC) and into the upper right corner, just under the cross bar and inside the post.
 
It was Robson's second goal of the season.
 
The visitors would get on the scoreboard in the 28^th minute after earning a penalty kick on a foul at the edge of the 18-yard box. Ed Jabbari, who drew the foul, stepped up and scored the penalty, barely getting the shot past Dillion Dean.
 
The Hillcat goalkeeper guessed the right way and appeared to make the initial save, deflecting the shot straight up. However, the deflection hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced down and in for the goal.
 
Early in the second half, the Hillcats would go back up by two on Jake Simpson's first of two goals in the game. Fellow senior Jordan Watson started the play with a long run down the right wing. Watson got to the goal line and worked his way by his defender and made a sliding pass to Simpson at the corner of the six-yard box.
 
Simpson controlled the pass on his first touch and then turned and fired across goal into the lower left corner for his 11^th goal of the season.
 
On the 76-minute mark, Simpson would add his second goal of the game to put the Hillcats up 4-1. Noah Robson started the play with a pass down the left wing to Luc Schade, who then played the ball to the goal line just in the penalty area. From there, Schade played a ball to the center of the 6-yard box where Simpson was able to make a sliding right-footed shot to beat Jean Claude Consol.
 
Schade, a freshman for the Hillcats, earned his first collegiate point with the assist.
 
With Simpson's second goal of the game, the senior set the new record for points in a single season at RSU, passing Desmond Fitzgerald's 28. Simpson has 30 points on the season with 12 goals and six assists.
 
Dillon Dean made two saves in 78 minutes of action. Austin Wormell finished out the game in goal, but was not test over the final 12 minutes.
 
Both teams finished with 11 shots in the game. Rogers State had five shots on target, while the Jets finished with four. Defender Jarrod Cooper cleared a ball off the line for the third save for the Hillcats.

The Hillcats, who move up to third in the GAC Standings, will take on Southern Nazarene on the road on Thursday. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. in Bethany, Oklahoma.