Men’s soccer celebrates after winning 4-0

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Sydney Dietz, Sports editor

The Mercyhurst Men’s soccer team took on Slippery Rock on Wednesday, Oct. 20, at the Mercyhurst Soccer Field. It was an exciting evening for the Lakers because they were able to achieve a shutout with a score of 4-0.

“I am happy to get back in the win column tonight. It was exactly the response we needed after Saturday’s disappointment,” said Coach Ryan Osborne.In the fifth minute of the game, Sidney Warden, senior, started the scoring for the Lakers by kicking the ball past the goalie and into the net. Warden had the ball passed to him from Dylan Sumner, redshirt freshman. The score of the game was now 1-0 and this goal only brought more energy to the field for the Lakers.

Tom Barry, redshirt junior, continued the scoring when he got a pass from Nic Munch, freshman, and took a shot from 30 yards out. Barry scored the second goal during the 12th minute of the game. However, the scoring did not stop there. Just eight minutes later, the Lakers scored their third goal of the game. Warden got his second goal of the night after attaining a long pass over the defenders from Sumner. The Lakers outshot Slippery Rock by 8-3 in the first half of the game.

The Lakers were able to recharge during halftime and come out for the second half with even more confidence. In the 79th minute of the game, Warden was celebrating a hat-trick after scoring his third goal of the night. This will now be Warden’s second hat-trick of the season. Martin Gryza, redshirt junior, helped with the goal by taking a free kick that ended up finding Warden.

“Scoring the third goal felt great to not only complete my hat-trick but also to secure the win for the team,” Warden said. “It was a win we really needed to give us the best chances of going to the play-offs at the end of the season, and we performed well enough to get the result we needed.”

This goal boosted the score up to 4-0, which ended up being the final score of the game. The Lakers shut out Slippery Rock and outshot them 16-5 and 11-3 in shots on goal.

After this game, Warden is celebrating leading the team in goals and points. Tom Barry is also on a scoring streak with getting a goal in the past three out of five games. Sumner has also been heating up as he gained points 14 and 15 from this game against Slippery Rock.

The Lakers now sit in third place for the PSAC West, behind Gannon and Seton Hill with eight points and only five more conference games left.

“As long as the team and I keep working hard every day in training and giving our everything when it comes to game day, then we have the quality in our team to get to where we want to be by the end of the season,“ Warden said.

Their next game will be against Seton Hill on Wednesday, Oct. 27, at 1:00 p.m. at the Mercyhurst Soccer Field.