Senior Gabriel Soriano recorded a goal and three assists to help lead the fourteenth-ranked University of Mary Washington men's soccer team past St. Mary's College, 4-0, on Saturday afternoon. The Eaglles win a rematch of last year's CAC Final and improve to 6-1-2 on the season.
In the early going, the two teams would maintain possession but no shots were accounted for. The Eagles got on the board in the 12th minute as Gabriel Soriano played a ball into the box off of a free kick and Jeremy Hokenson put a head on the ball to give UMW an early 1-0 lead. After SMC recorded a few shots, the Eagles got back in attack mode.
In the 25th minute, the Eagles recorded three straight corner kicks. On the third corner kick, UMW converted a goal. Again Soriano played a ball to Hokenson who headed it in the back of the net to go up 2-0. The Eagles weren't done in the first half as they kept the pressure on.
Matt Meadows got behind the defense and laid off a pass to Luke McMahon who was pushed by the defender into the goalie and was awarded a penalty kick. Soriano stepped up to take the penalty kick and put it away to give UMW a 3-0 lead in the 32nd minute. The Eagles held on the rest of the half and didn't allow a single shot from there.
After a 30 minute lightning delay at the half, the two teams came back out to play. Just four minutes in the Eagles converted another corner kick. This time Soriano played it into Josh Kirkland who headed this one home and put UMW up 4-0.
From there, the game got chippy as many players were called for a foul. The Eagles kept their composure and closed out the half by only giving up just five shots. Kenny Kurtz recorded three saves and Griffin Hemmendinger recorded one.
UMW outshot SMC 17-13 and recorded nine corner kicks.
The Eagles will be back in action on Wednesday when they travel to Salisbury for a game set at 4 p.m.