BLUEFIELD, Va. – Grace's men's soccer team unleashed its full offensive arsenal against William Peace on Thursday night, blasting the Pacers 5-0.
The match concludes two matches in two days for the Lancers (2-2), who also defeated Bluefield College 1-0 on Wednesday.
"We knew that we were going to be the disadvantaged team after playing a game last night, so we made the decision to go on the offensive and really work to press them," said Grace head coach Matt Hotchkin. "We did a better job keeping the ball. Our distribution in the offensive third started to clean up a bit."
Five different Lancers scored on the night, including two goals over the first six minutes of play.
The Pacers (0-1), playing their first match of the season, yielded a goal defensively in the first minute of their season. Dominic Harris beat Peace's goalkeeper just 50 seconds into the match off a pass by Kyle Hamlin, putting the Pacers back on their collectively heels from the onset.
Grace's push continued early on, eventually producing a goal by freshman Damon Binkley at the 5:28 mark. Hamlin again was on the distribution end of Grace's tally. The Lancers had six shots and six corner kicks overall in the first half and went into halftime ahead 2-0.
Two more freshmen joined Binkley on the scoresheet in the second half. Roberto Gonzalez scored his first collegiate goal in the 59th minute, assisted from a well-placed ball from Nakilee Weni. Mitchell Zeilenga nearly scored again 10 minutes later, but his shot deflected off the crossbar.
Kyle Hamlin made the score 4-0 with an unassisted strike at the 70:19 mark, and freshman Santiago Maya opened up his Lancer goal-scoring account for the final tally of the match. Thomas Tydeman assisted Maya's goal in the 83rd minute.
Grace outshot William Peace 21-4 in the match, including a dominant 15-2 advantage in the second half. The Lancers also had 11 corner kicks compared to three for the Pacers.
Robbie Barnhill earned his second shutout in as many days, making one save in 90 minutes.
"We still have a lot of work to do and much to improve on. The guys know that," Hotchkin said. "It was good to get a couple of wins on the road, and now we look forward to a tough match against Cardinal Stritch on Saturday night."
The Lancers play host to Cardinal Stritch on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Miller Athletic Complex. It will be Grace's third match in four days.
