Morales Records 6 Points in Rout

Box Score The #6 ranked MNU Men's Soccer team traveled across town to take on the Pirates of Park University in a non-conference match Wednesday evening. Park entered the game receiving votes in the latest Top-25 poll. On a perfect evening for soccer the Pioneers took care of business.
 
In the 12th minute of the first half, Eddie Morales took a ball into space and made a nice pass across the box for Daniel Clifton. He calmly slotted the ball past the goalkeeper to give MNU the early lead. Just 4 minutes later Morales extended the MNU lead. The Park goalkeeper came out of his box to head a ball away but it hit a Park defender and fell nicely for Morales to finish into the open net. At this point the game turned. Park came alive and began to throw numbers forward. They had multiple set pieces and the MNU defense of Alvaro Beltran, Aurelien Norest, Stephane Philippe, and Adam Sportsman withstood the pressure and MNU went into the halftime break with a 2-0 lead.
 
The 2nd half was only 4 minutes old when the Pioneers extended the lead. Morales took a nice pass from Jeremie Koffi and beat the goalkeeper with a nice finish. The pace of the game then slowed and the intensity subsided. MNU did a good job of managing the lead as Park had a couple of good chances but MNU's goalkeeper, Yann Passet, would not be beat.  In the 60th minute the lead was 4-0.  Morales served in a ball from a corner kick and Jelani Jillo was there to strike the ball towards goal. The Park goalkeeper misplayed the shot and the ball ended up in the back of the net. The final goal for MNU came in the 71st  minute when Lucas Machado scored into an empty net after Park's goalkeeper and defender collided into each other. The final score was 5-0.
 
For the game MNU outshot Park 11-8, with SOG being 7-2. The Pirate goalkeeper was credited with 5 saves. Passet for MNU was credited with 1 save. Juan Pablo Riesco came in for the final minutes to help salvage the clean sheet for the Pioneers. Park is now 5-2 on the season.

MNU is 6-1-1. The next game is Saturday at home vs. William Penn University at 3:00. This is the last non-conference game of the regular season for MNU.