The Mount Vernon Nazarene University men’s soccer team moved to 3-0 to start the season with a rout over Ohio Christian University, 9-1, on Saturday, sending the visiting Trailblazers to their third straight loss.
Zack Bowser was the star among a team of Cougars stars in the game with a hat trick, including the first goal of the game at 19 minutes in. Bowser converted a Keon Boney pass for the score, and four minutes later, the Cougars went up 2-0 on a blast from outside the box by Manuel Flores, off a pass from Brett Cingle.
Ben McLernan put one in at the 30-minute mark, and a minute later, Joshua Sitney made it 4-nil off a steal from an OCU defender. The first half flood continued for the Cougars as 36 minutes in, Bowser deposited his second goal, and a couple of minutes later, McLernan made if two for the game and four for the season on a neat pass from Flores. Bowser completed his first-half hat trick with his team-leading sixth goal of year before the 40-minute mark, and Aaron Jolly finished off the first-half scoring binge with his first collegiate goal.
With the rout on, the second half slowed down as both teams substituted generously. The final Cougars score was kicked in at the 55th minute by Flores from Boney. Two minutes later, Herminio Cruz scored the Trailblazers’ only goal of the game off a corner in the 57th minute to bring the score to 9-1.
MVNU Coach Zach Ganzberg, in his fourth season as Cougars coach, said, “It was good to see us produce at a high level after a week off. Ohio Christian presented some early challenges for us, but we adjusted well and scored some good goals. Now we set our sights on a top opponent in WVU Tech.”
The Cougars will travel to Beckley, W.V, to take on West Virginia Institute of Technology on Wednesday. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
