BENNINGTON, Vt. — Four Southern Vermont College men's soccer players registered goals Thursday afternoon as the hosting Mountaineers defeated Green Mountain College 7-0 in non-conference action at Everett Field.
A true hat trick in the first-half by Bennington College freshman Jonathan Nordh (Flekke, Norway) gave Southern Vermont a comfortable cushion at the break, and SVC added on to its lead in the closing 45 minutes to walk out with its first win of the year.
The Mountaineer victory avenges a 3-2 loss to the Eagles a year ago and is the fourth for SVC in the last five meetings between the two sides.
Southern Vermont (1-8) now turns to New England Collegiate Conference action, visiting Mitchell College on Saturday for a 1 p.m. kickoff. GMC (0-9) is also in league action next at 1 p.m. on Saturday, making the short trip to Castleton University for a North Atlantic Conference matchup.
After the teams felt each other out in the early going while trying to establish their offensive identities, SVC took to the scoreboard in the 23rd minute. Mountaineer freshman Matthew Hatch (Sahuarita, Ariz.) brought the ball in deep, close to the goal line on the left side of the field, before finally playing it back to Nordh who was streaking towards the near post; the BC freshman met it and fired it into the back, left corner of the frame as his first collegiate tally put Southern Vermont on top 1-0.
About 13 minutes later, the hosts padded their lead when Nordh registered his second score of the day. SVC senior Matthew Snow (Barnstable, Mass.) sent a long, crossing pass in from the left side of the pitch to the middle of box. Nordh hit it one the first touch into the lower right corner, beating the Eagle keeper to make it 2-0 in the 36th minute.
With about 1:30 to go in the first half, the Mountaineer capped his hat trick when a penalty was called on the Green Mountain goalie. A ball sent to the middle of the box saw the Eagle go up in conjunction with an SVC player, and a conference between the middle official and assistant referee concluded that the goaltender did not make contact with it before his extended hand struck the Mountaineer. Nordh was elected to take the penalty kick, and he found the lower left corner once again to give Southern Vermont a 3-0 lead heading into halftime.
Three SVC players got in on the scoring in the second half to pull away from Green Mountain. Hatch tallied his first collegiate goal in the 48th minute, dropping in a looping shot from about 25 yards out just over the GMC keeper's reach. With 33:45 to go in the period, Southern Vermont senior captain Sean Deegan (Seymour, Conn.) sent a direct ball from the backfield up the right side, allowing freshman teammate Anthony Dominguez (Los Angeles, Calif.) to run onto it and take a few touches around the GMC defense before slotting it home from the top of the box.
Dominguez then scored his second of the day and third goal of the season in the 61st minute on a similar play, this time getting to a ball sent by Hatch up the gut of the field from about 20 yards into his own half. Dominguez added an assist for his fifth point of the match just under three minutes later, playing a through pass to classmate Nikolas Joseph (Coventry, Conn.); Joseph took a touch through open space towards the goal, another to push it around an encroaching Green Mountain goalie, and a final push to put it in the back of the net for his second goal of the year.
The Mountaineer defense played tough all day, allowing GMC to only get five shots off on net. SVC freshman keeper Noah Chani (Hoosick Falls, N.Y.) stopped each attempt to pick up his first collegiate shutout. Green Mountain freshman counterpart Samuel Nichols (Brunswick, Maine) turned away four Southern Vermont shots in the effort.