ELSAH, IL – The Principia men's soccer team hosted SLIAC foe MUW on Thursday evening, rolling to a decisive 9-3 victory over the visiting Owls.
Going against their trend of conceding early goals this season, the Panthers flipped the script in this one as
Christian Tresoldi, the reigning SLIAC Offensive Player of the Week, found the back of the net less than a minute into the game off a great pass from
Wizzy Afrani.
MUW tied the game in the 12th minute, but the Panthers responded immediately. Principia earned a penalty kick, and after the initial shot was saved,
Effenberg Joya slammed home the rebound to restore the lead. Joya added his second of the game – and team-leading seventh of the season – assisted by Tresoldi and
Diego Alas in the 21st minute to extend the lead to 3-1.
Diego de Manuel Romero then took over, completing a natural hat trick in just 13 minutes.
Parker Boyce assisted two of those goals, with
Nacho Cachaza setting up the other. Tresoldi capped off an incredible first half with his second goal of the match in the 42nd minute, giving the Panthers a commanding 7-1 lead at halftime.
With substitutes taking the field in the second half,
Ian Koepp and
Reginald Kihwele both notched their first goals of the season with assists going to
Nana Koranteng, Kaiky dos Santos and
Kelvin Kasirye. MUW also managed to score twice in the second half, but it wasn't enough to stop the Panthers from cruising to a 9-3 win.
The victory moves Principia to 4-0-2 in conference play, keeping them atop the SLIAC standings. Next up, the Panthers will host Spalding University in their final regular season home game on Saturday at 3:00 pm for Senior Day. The team will honor their six seniors during halftime of the women's game around 1:45 pm.
