The men’s soccer team earned a much needed win for the team’s seven seniors Saturday on Senior Night. The Jackets [5-8-3] defeated the Thiel Tomcats, 5-1 at John F Wiley Stadium for their second straight Presidents’ Athletic Conference win.
Waynesburg got off to a great start offensively, keeping the ball on Thiel’s side of the field for most of the first half. One Jacket senior, Nate Biondi, scored the first goal of the game, finishing a pass that went across Thiel’s box from senior midfielder Nate Kummer in the 27th minute.
The Jackets quickly tacked on another goal in the 33rd minute, when junior Daniel Hott hit the top right corner of the net from 25 yards out. Thiel [0-13-2, 0-6] responded shortly after when Andreas Hauge Jonassen scored on a breakaway.
Waynesburg outshot Thiel 11-1 in the first half. Thiel’s starting goalie, Noah Brieck, made three saves in the first 45 minutes, while Waynesburg’s starting goalie Adam Dolan need to record a save.
The Jackets continued their offensive pressure in the second half, outshooting Thiel 16-6. Senior Nate Kummer scored two goals less than two minutes apart. The first goal occurred in the 60th minute, when he finished a pass from Biondi 10 yards out. The second goal came just over a minute later when he finished a feed from junior Cam Sutherland late in the 61st minute.
Kummer was excited about his two goal performance, and credited his teammates for giving him opportunities.
“It was pretty fun,” Kummer said. “The team helped me out a lot. I got some easy goals, so they set me up pretty well.”
The Jackets added another goal in the 74th minute, when freshman David Brown hit the back-left corner of Thiel’s goal from 10 yards out. Freshman Matthew Hilarzewski replaced Dolan in goal late in the second half and made two saves for Waynesburg.
Head coach Brad Heethuis said the team performed strong through the night and was finally able to finish.
“I thought we did well for the most part,” Heethuis said. “We finished well tonight for the first time in a while. It was good to see everybody get on the field and make an impact. We finally found some unselfish play up in front of the box, and some guys take initiative and finish on the ball in front of the net.”
Waynesburg’s next game is the final game of the regular season. The Jackets host the Geneva Golden Tornadoes on Wed., Oct.30, at John F. Wiley Stadium.