On Sept. 15, the Mercyhurst Men’s soccer team traveled to West Virgina to play against Shepherd University for a 1:00 p.m. game. This game was worth the five hour drive for the Lakers, as it ended up being the best game of the season so far. Mercyhurst won the game with a score of 6-0.

This is the second game in a row that the men’s soccer team has won.“We were playing well as a team, and we knew more goals were coming,” said junior mid-fielder, Salvador Rang.

The scoring for Mercyhurst started 11 minutes into the game when sophomore forward, Thomas Binkowski, scored a goal on Shepard, with an assist from Rang. Not only did Rang assist on Binkowski’s goal, but he also assisted on a second goal passing the ball to sophomore midfielder/ forward, Axel Aronsson. Aronsson scored a goal in the 23rd minute of the game.

The scoring was not over, in the 30th minute of the game, sopho-more midfielder, Dylan Summer scored, which resulted in a score of 3-0 in the Lakers favor. This goal was assisted by freshman midfielder, Darragh Curtin.The Lakers were up by three goals going into halftime. This lead shows how hard the Lakers have been practicing and allowed the team to go into the second half with confidence.

At the start of the second half, Rang achieved his third assist of the game. Rang assisted the ball to freshman defender, Nic MÜnch, who scored the fourth goal for the Lakers at 1:47 into the second half. “As a midfielder, giving assists is one of the best feelings there is, and it is part of your job to help the team,” Rang said. “I felt really good after the third assist, also because it came from a corner, which is something we have been practicing a lot.”

Mercyhurst proceeded to in-crease their lead after halftime by adding three more goals before the final whistle.“It was nice to see us scoring many goals, but what was especially important was that so many different people scored during this game. A lot of guys made the game sheet for the first time,” said Rang.

Sean Kerriigan was able to kick the ball past the goalie and into the net, along with grad student and forward, Nevado Elliott. This brought the score to 6-0, which meant a win for the Lakers. “I hope we can grow confidence from this game and take that into our next games. The PSAC is starting soon as well, and it would mentally help us if we can go into that with as many wins as possible,” said Rang. “I am very excited to play our next game. We have to show that we can keep winning, we just tied our overall, so we have to win the next games, otherwise these last wins meant nothing.”

Overall Mercyhurst took control of this game resulting in 29 shots, 20 on goal, while also taking a 10-0 advantage on corner kicks. Meanwhile, Shepard had two off target shots. This is the first time the men’s soccer team has scored six goals since Oct. 5, 2019, against Pitt Johnstown. The Lakers will next play Wednesday Sept. 29, at 12:00 p.m. against Seton Hill University in Greensburgh, Pennsylvania. There will be a live stream of the game for those who cannot attend in person to support the Lakers.