BENNINGTON, Vt. — The Southern Vermont College men's soccer team continues to record victories as the Mountaineers downed visiting Wheelock College 8-0 Monday afternoon in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action at Everett Field.
Mountaineer freshman Anthony Dominguez (Los Angeles, Calif.) tallied a hat trick on the day, two of his goals coming early on in the match. Classmate Nikolas Joseph (Coventry, Conn.) registered three assists while senior captain James Tschinkel (Freehold, N.Y.) had five points with a pair of goals and an assist.
Southern Vermont has now posted victories in three straight games and four of its last five, only allowing a single goal in those collective wins. The three consecutive win streak is the longest for the team since 2011 as the Mountaineers have now surpassed their victory total from each of the last three seasons. SVC moves to 4-0 in the all-time series with the Wildcats.
Both teams are now off until Saturday, resuming the Conference schedule when Southern Vermont (4-9, 2-2 NECC) hosts Regis College for SVC's Senior Day and a 3:30 p.m. kickoff while Wheelock (0-8, 0-3 NECC) makes the short trip to Newbury College for a 3 p.m. start.
SVC struck twice in a span of 1:33 early after the opening whistle, Joseph and Dominguez pairing up both times to give the Mountaineers a quick lead. Joseph first found his classmate on the right side, playing a long ball up field where Dominguez was able to collect it and set himself before sniping a low shot into the left side netting for his fifth of the year.
The freshman duo teamed up again, Joseph this time sending it to Dominguez up the middle of the field. The SVC freshman turned with his controlling touch, worked past a Wildcat defender and directed a well-placed attempt into the lower right corner to pad the Mountaineer lead.
The hosts controlled momentum through the middle stretch of the half, getting off shots while keeping the ball in the WC end of the field for a majority of the period. SVC was able to pad its lead with three more scores in the final nine minutes of the stanza, the first being on a converted penalty by Tschinkel as the defender's first career goal put the Mountaineers on top 3-0 in the 37th minute.
Dominguez then completed his hat trick with 4:54 left to go in the opening period, getting on the end on a long Tschinkel pass with his head for his seventh tally of the year. Senior Tommy Youngblood (Leonardtown, Md.) capped the scoring for the half with his first collegiate score, flicking in a header off a throw-in by senior captain Sean Deegan (Seymour, Conn.) from deep down the right touchline.
Shortly after the break, SVC extended its upper hand with a third career first goal for a Mountaineer. A corner kick was sent in from the left side, and freshman Kieran Enright (Perth, Australia) was able to hit a backwards flick on a bouncing ball from about six yards away. Wheelock sophomore keeper Jordan Bernard (Westbrook, Conn.) came up with the point-blank save, but Southern Vermont junior captain Taylor Baker (Hoosick Falls, N.Y.) was right there in front of the goal to slam it home for the 6-0 advantage.
Joseph then notched his third helper of the day when he played it up the right edge of the middle third to Bennington College freshman Jonathan Nordh (Flekke, Norway) in the 68th minute. The Mountaineer took a touch at the net and finished in the lower left corner, his fifth of the season putting SVC up 7-0. Tschinkel added a second collegiate tally later in the period, firing home a loose ball from about 30 yards away into the lower right corner with 12:55 to go for the last score of the match.
SVC freshman keeper Noah Chani (Hoosick Falls, N.Y.) made two saves for his third shutout of the season while Bernard finished the game with 15 stopped shots.