On Friday night The King's College Men's Soccer team made the short trip north to take on the College of New Rochelle in a critical HVIAC conference match. With both teams vying for one of the four berths in the upcoming playoffs, the game would promised to be an exciting one.
The Lions came out roaring, scoring 4 goals in the first 40 minutes to come away with an important 7-1 victory. Michel Wenzel put King's on the scoreboard first when he was involved in an own goal charged to New Rochelle 26 minutes into the first half.
Spencer Smith exploded for a hat trick in a span of 13 minutes (27', 38', 40') as Michel Wenzel provided Smith with 2 assists and Edwin Loefgren contributed a helper. King's took a 4-0 lead into the halftime break.
The Lions would put the game away early as they notched 3 more goals in the first 17 minutes of the second half. Loefgren added a goal of his own in the 54th minute as Josiah Simons fed him a pass as King's stretched their lead to 5-0. Just four minutes later Diego Herrera notched his third goal of the seasonon another pass from Simons.
Isaiah Williams closed out the scoring and gave the Lions a 7-0 lead on a pass from Daniel Fuenzalida.
Rolando Oseguera of New Rochelle scored in the 64th minute with an assist from Xavier Cruzata in the 7-1 final.
The match was much closer than the scoreboard appeared as King's only held a 17-15 advantage in shots and a 2-1 edge in corner kicks. But the Lions were very proficient in finding the back of the net in this game making the most of their opportunities.
Junior goalkeeper Craig Wishart was sharp in the net for King's making 12 saves of the 13 shots on goal.
The win improves King's record to 9-2 overall and 3-2 in the HVIAC conference. The team currently sits in third place in the conference where five teams are battling for the four playoffs slots as the season winds down over the next ten days.
NEXT UP:
King's gets a short rest on Saturday before taking on Albany Pharmacy on Sunday in the final match of the regular season. King's will host the 5:00pm match at the Aviator Sports Complex in Brooklyn. This game will definitely have major playoff implications for the two teams as well as New Rochelle and SUNY-ESF.