Press Release Written by Nathan Foltz
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NEWARK, Del. - - Led by Theo Faillon's five points and Jhamaleek Porter's two goals, the Wilmington University men's soccer team routed Chestnut Hill on Wednesday by a final score of 7-2 in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference matchup in Newark, Delaware.
The win bumps the Wildcats' overall record to 9-2-4, while their conference record improves to 4-2-3, moving them up to second in the CACC standings where they trail first-place Post by four points. With only one conference match left and a win worth three points, Post is locked into the top spot. To stay in second, though, Wilmington will have to hope it can stave off the five different teams within five points behind them, all of which have two more CACC contests to play.
The scoring frenzy got started for the Cats in the 18th minute, when Theo Faillon struck with his conference-leading 12th goal of the season thanks to an assist from Jacques Mason across the box. Mason wasn't done with the helpers, as less than a minute later, he headed a ball right to Alex Tarway's feet, who drove it home after making a couple of nifty moves. In the 25th minute, Isaak Simic headed a ball that one-hopped at the feet of Jhamaleek Porter, who scissor-kicked a laser into the far side of the net to make it a three-goal contest. Porter would then put himself on an early hat trick watch in the 31st minute, thanks to passes from Tarway and Faillon that drew out the Griffin keeper to give Porter an open net from the middle of the box.
The second half scoring happened in a blur and was kicked off in the 50th minute when Shuntaro Morimoto booted in the rebound off a saved Faillon shot. Two minutes later, Tarway fed a ball into the middle for Michiharu Takanashi, who put a great touch on a shot into the lower left of the net out of the keeper's reach. Wilmington's scoring wrapped in the 56th minute as Faillon was again in the thick of things, passing the ball up the box to Jiung Ha, who notched it perfectly into the top right corner of the net from the top of the box.
Chestnut Hill got on the board in the 63rd minute and scored again in the 69th, but the seven-goal lead was far too much to overcome.
Emil Lollike started the match in goal for the Cats before yielding to Will Kiers after 56 minutes. Lollike didn't face any shots on goal, while Kiers saved three of the five sent his way.
Shots were 27-10 (12-5) in favor of Wilmington, as were the corners, 8-3.
Saturday marks the final home regular-season match for the Wildcats, as they step out of CACC play to welcome sixth-ranked Southern New Hampshire University to the WU Athletics Complex. Wilmington is hoping to pull off a similar upset to last year's 4-0 victory in New Hampshire over the Penmen, who were ranked sixth in the country at that time as well. Opening whistle is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.
