GAMBIER, Ohio – The Trine University men's soccer team battled adversity and took advantage of critical errors to secure a 4-3 victory on the road at Kenyon College on Saturday afternoon.
The Thunder got a hat trick from senior forward Tyler Murphy to move to 2-3-2 overall this season, but needed even more to get a win against the now 5-3-0 Owls. An own goal would be the difference as a clear attempt went wrong for Kenyon.
The Owls went on the attack early but came up short of a score, but Trine would counter and their senior captain buried the first of seven goals in the match in the 26th minute of action. Murphy was able to sneak the ball past the opposing keeper in the bottom right corner of the net to make it 1-0. That shot as well as one by sophomore Liam Zimmerman were the only two attempts by the Thunder in the first half of play.
After being outshot 6-2 in the opening 45 minutes, the Owls would keep their foot on the gas pedal and take advantage of a foul inside the box and converted a penalty kick to even the score. Not long after, Murphy recorded his second goal of the match in the 66th frame. He received a long pass and was able to go 1-on-1 to beat the final defender and the keeper to give the visitors a 2-1 edge.
One minute later, Kenyon answered to get back to even. A red card assessed to sophomore Jarick Aguilar in the 72nd minute would put Trine in a man down situation over the final 18 minutes on the pitch. A goal by the opponents four minutes later seemed as though it would put the hopes of a positive result to rest for the Thunder.
That would not be the case as Superman put on his cape once again and the program's NCAA DIII scoring leader notched a hat trick for the afternoon with a goal in the 81st minute, his seventh score of the year and the 17th time a Thunder student-athlete has tallied three or more goals in a match. Junior Mohamed Aljably played a ball from beyond midfield to Murphy, who snuck behind the defense and tapped it by the keeper to make it 3-3 even playing 11-on-10.
Trine received a corner kick in the 86th minute that sealed the victory. Senior Francesco Mazzei sent the ball into the box and after an unsuccessful clear, the ball ended up in the back of the net with no chance for the Owl goalkeeper to make a play on it.
The 4-3 score would hold true as the Thunder picked up their first road win of the season despite a 16-7 shot differential. Senior Aidan McGonagle received the win in net (2-1-1) after making three saves.
The final out-of-conference match for Trine takes place on Wednesday, September 27 at Wheaton College. Kick-off is slated for 5:30 p.m. EST.