ROLLA, Mo. – It was the game Missouri S&T's men's soccer team has been waiting for all season – the one where everything fell in place.
Buoyed by two first half goals by
Eduardo Abichabki (Sao Jose do Rio Pardo, Brazil/Colegio Unigrau) and two more tallies in the first 2:30 of the second half, the Miners rolled to a
5-0 win Friday over Illinois Springfield in Great Lakes Valley Conference play. The Miners not only recorded their first shutout of the season, but also matched their highest goal output in a conference game as a member of the GLVC.
The scoring started in the eighth minute of play when
Ryan Lawhead (O'Fallon, Ill./O'Fallon Township) sent a pass across the box that was deflected right to Abichabki, who buried a shot from close range.
In the 31
st minute, Abichabki scored again when he took a pass from
Maxi Fuchs (Munich, Germany) on the right side of the box, made a move around UIS goalkeeper Kyle Hamilton and shot the ball into an open net to give S&T a 2-0 lead it would take to halftime.
When the second half started, the Miners went right on the offensive. First,
Felipe Andrade (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) got a pass in the middle of the field and hit a shot past Hamilton to extend the advantage to 3-0. Just 79 seconds later,
Will McIntyre (Queensland, New Zealand) scored on a shot from nearly the same location to make it a four-goal game.
The Miners got their final goal in the 63
rd minutes when McIntyre sent a ball in front that
Unnar Ulfarsson (Gardabaer, Iceland/Fjolnir Reykjavik) redirected past Benjamin Shuty.
S&T outshot the Prairie Stars (2-5, 0-5 GLVC) 25-6 in the game, as
Nick Posey (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville) recorded his first career shutout with two saves.
The five goals scored by the Miners matched the total scored by S&T in a 5-0 win at Kentucky Wesleyan on Oct. 11, 2009, the most previously scored by the Miners in a GLVC contest.
Missouri S&T (3-4, 3-2 GLVC) will wrap up its weekend homestand Sunday when its hosts McKendree in a 2:30 p.m. contest at the S&T Soccer Field. The Bearcats dropped a 2-1 decision Friday at Drury.
