GEORGETOWN, Texas – The experienced Trinity men's soccer team, ranked 4th in the nation in the most recent NSCAA rankings, was just too strong for the young Pirate team as they fell 7-1 Wednesday night in the SCAC conference opener.
Southwestern's Christian Lopez got the first dangerous look of the game, taking a one touch, half-volley shot left of goal, but Matt Cardone made the one-handed save. Trinity quickly responded and did so with the first goal of the game as Goncalo Santana brought the ball down the field towards the left post and calmly played the ball into the middle of the field. Johnny Lawson was waiting with baited breath ten yards from goal and one-touched the ball into the back of the net in the ninth minute.
In a near mirror image of the first goal Trinity made it a 2-0 lead, this time with Lawson assisting and Zacharias Edholm one-touching it home in the 26th minute. The Tigers dropped two more in the net before halftime, sending the Pirates into the break down 4-0.
TU picked up where they left off and scored early in the second frame, but SU refused to go quietly into the night as Zach Faulkner smartly played a free ball past the Trinity defense before they were set and Michael Oliveras finished the play to cut the deficit to 5-1.
Trinity pushed their lead back to five on a line drive shot by Nate Dauphin in the 63rd minute and added one more in the 70th minute by Callum Squires, assisted by Derrick Horvath, to arrive at the 7-1 final.
Southwestern trailed 17-7 in shots but had three more corner opportunities, 5-2. Travis Carmichael recorded five saves in goal in 90 minutes of action while garnering the loss.
The Pirates fall to 0-4-0 on the year and 0-1-0 in the SCAC while Trinity improves to 4-1-0 and 1-0 in the SCAC. Southwestern returns to the road as they face Christopher Newport on Sunday in a neutral-site contest in San Antonio at noon.