ASTON, Pa. - The Neumann University men's soccer team continued its winning ways in conference play on Tuesday afternoon, clobbering visiting Centenary University by a score of 6-0 in Atlantic East action.
Marlon Trejo (1 g, 2 a) and
Sam Clavijo (2 g) carried the offense on the afternoon while
Alex Lopez-Luna,
Jon Yinger and
Jake Kuzmick added solo tallies.
Seth Walker picked up his second consecutive shutout in goal, stopping one shot in the match.
After almost a week off in between conference contests, the Knights were chomping at the bit to get back into action. As excited as the team was to return to play though, the Knights struggled to find their legs early, conceding three of the first four shots of the game. The slow start wouldn't last long however, as a few adjustments midway through the half brought life into the hosts and changed the game. Lopez-Luna was the driving force behind the sea-change in the Neumann attack, creating almost instant offense upon entering the game as a sub in the 29th minute. Just 17 seconds after entering the game, the sophomore midfielder found a loose ball in the Centenary box, juked a defender and ripped a howitzer of a shot off the underside of the crossbar. The ball then bounced straight down and into the net to give the Knights an early 1-0 advantage. The score-line would remain that way at halftime with the Cyclones holding a 5-4 edge in shots.
A spirited halftime team talk led Neumann to a much better second half performance. The Knights dominated the final 45 minutes from the opening whistle of the stanza, outshooting Centenary by a count of 13-1. The hosts created several early chances in the half before finally cashing in with a second goal in the 59th minute. After earning a free kick deep in the Cyclone end, Trejo and
Alex Duopu played a give and go, then Trejo delivered a beautiful ball from the left flank behind the visitors' back-line that was glanced over the Centenary goalie via a Clavijo header to make it 2-0.
The floodgates would open from there much like last week's game at Gwynedd Mercy. Smelling blood in the water, the Knights tacked on four more goals in a 17 minute span to put a stranglehold on the contest. An outstanding individual effort from Clavijo made it 3-0 in the 66th minute, as the freshman forward won a foot race to a loose ball behind the Cyclone defense before dribbling past the keeper and slotting the ball home for his second marker of the day and fifth of the season. Trejo took over from there for the next two tallies, bending in a free kick from 20 yards out to make it 4-0 in the 70th minute before assisting on a Yinger goal in the 73rd minute via a brilliant slotted through ball to make it 5-0. Kuzmick closed out the scoring in the 83rd minute with his first career collegiate goal by simply out-working a Cyclone center back. The freshman attacker pushed his way past the Centenary defender and tucked a ball past an outstretched keeper to close out the comfortable 6-0 victory for the Knights.
Neumann (5-8, 2-0 Atlantic East) will have two days to rest before it heads to rival Cabrini University for a huge conference battle between the two unbeaten teams. Game-time in Radnor is scheduled for 7:00 PM.
