Rivas, Jimenez comibine for seven goals as Colorado Inferno roll past Omaha Kings, 10-4

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Francisco Rivas is picking up right where he left.

The Colorado Inferno’s leading scorer a year ago, Rivas blasted in four goals to lead his club to a 10-4 win over the visiting Omaha Kings Saturday night as part of the Major Arena Soccer League 2 Rocky Mountain Invitational.

The game counts towards M2’s regular season standings, and lifts Colorado to 3-1 on the season. The Kings fell to 1-3. In the other tournament game Saturday, the FC Amarillo Bombers nipped the Premier Arena Soccer League’s Alliance FC, 12-11. Because that game did not feature two regular M2 teams, it does not count towards the league standings.

Bobby Jaffy got the Kings on the board midway through the first, but the Inferno roared back with four straight to take a 4-1 lead four minutes into the second period. Going to the second half at that same score, the Kings cut it to 4-2 before the hosts reeled off three more to start pulling away.  The teams traded a number of sixth attacker goals in the final quarter, with Rivas completing his hat trick with an even-strength marker at the 8:15 mark of the final period that gave Colorado a 9-3 edge. 

Rivas wasn’t the only hat trick maker for the evening. Teammate Josue Jimenez popped in three, while Armnado Gonzalez, Ismael Morales and Raul Elias also scored. Francisco Rivas, a second-team all tournament selection at January’s Heartland Invitational, now has seven goals and an assist in four games in 2021. In the last four years with the Inferno, he has scored 60 goals in 35 games. Jimenez was a third-team pick at the Heartland Invitational, has five goals on the season, and in the last four years has 25 goals in 33 Colorado starts.

The action concludes today with a flurry of matchups, starting at 8:30 MDT as the Kings and Alliance tangle, followed by a 10:30 a.m. start between the Kings and Bombers which will count in the M2 standings. The Inferno will take on the Bombers at 1:30 p.m. in an M2 showdown, while the event concludes with Colorado hosting the Alliance at 3:30 p.m. 

For more information, including streaming options for all of today’s games, visit m2soccer.com or the league’s or Inferno’s social media sites.