CHICAGO, Ill.-- An offensive outburst and big contributions from freshmen led Trine to a 4-1 victory over Illinois Tech in the final match of the Illinois Tech Tournament Sunday afternoon.
Freshman Bucky Carpenter (Shipshewana, Ind./Westview) scored the first two goals of his collegiate career, while fellow rookie Kurt Wysocki (Avon, Ohio/St. Edward) added a three-point effort with his first-career goal and assist. Ben Moricz (Valparaiso, Ind./Wheeler) added his first collegiate goal as well for the Thunder. Carpenter, Nick Lang (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral) and Jacob Nantz (Galesburg, Mich./Galesburg-Augusta) were named to the all-tournament team. Trine placed second in the tournament with a 1-1 record over the last two days and is now 2-1 on the year. Illinois Tech fell to 1-1-1 overall.
A flurry of three goals in a span of 11:04 in the first half gave the Thunder a big cushion early in the match. Carpenter got Trine on the board at the 15:58 mark of the half with an unassisted tally for his first-career goal.
Wysocki found the back of the net for the first time in his collegiate career just under eight minutes later, with Lang picking up the assist. Lang has now produced at least one point in all three matches this season.
Carpenter's second goal came just 2:20 later. This time, Chris Short (McCordsville, Ind./Pendleton Heights) picked up his first-career assist as the Thunder took a 3-0 lead into the half. Carpenter became the first Trine freshman to score two goals in a match since current teammate Bill Wilson (Mason, Mich./Mason) pulled off the feat in 2013.
Wysocki set up Moricz's first-career goal to pick up the assist. Moricz has stepped seamlessly into a starting role in the early going, starting all three matches after playing in just one match last year.
Trine saw valuable contributions from its freshman class on the weekend, getting four goals and an assist from rookies. A Thunder freshman had the goal or assist on all five of the team's scoring efforts this weekend.
Noah Griffin scored a late, unassisted tally with under five minutes remained to account for Illinois Tech's lone goal. Trine outshot the Scarlet Hawks by a 23-14 margin.
The Thunder continue non-conference play Wednesday, Sept. 9 at Hanover. The match is slated to begin at 3:30 p.m.