ROCKFORD, Ill. - The Benedictine University men's soccer team reached .500 for the first time on the season with a 10-1 road win over Rockford on Wednesday afternoon to improve to 4-0 in conference play.
Benedictine needed little time to open the scoring and set the tone.
Gio Ovalle sent a pass through the defense to the feet of
Nick Kapetanos, who fired into the top left corner of the net in the sixth minute. Just over 10 minutes later, Kapetanos struck again to make it 2-0.
Edgar Reyes and
Bobby Kostadinov delivered assists to cross in front of the net.
Ante Markotic added a pair of goals as Benedictine held a 4-0 lead at the half.
The offensive burst continued in the second half.
Joshua Ickes struck on a 15-yard shot just over five minutes into the half. Ickes tacked on two more in the half to finish with three in the game.
Joel Sandoval and
Cesar Valdez also scored in the second half.
"It was nice to see some of our guys who have worked hard in training be rewarded with some meaningful minutes," head coach
Rich Nassif said. "Kudos goes to the group we had on in the second half as they pushed the tempo, put together some lengthy combinations, and created quite a few goal-scoring opportunities."
Benedictine peppered Rockford with 30 shots from 14 individuals. The defense allowed just five. Kapetanos led the way with five while Markotic, Ickes, and Kostadinov notched four apiece. Reyes and Kostadinov logged a pair of assists. Three different individuals appeared in net with
Zorohn Reed playing 67 minutes and tallying a save.
Derek Catlett and
Ahmed Rizvi split the remainder of the action.
"I thought our midfield did a very good job of dictating the game for 90 minutes and forcing play in their end," Nassif added. "We were quite disappointed in not getting the shutout but we will use it as a learning moment and tighten things up for Saturday. We will get back to work tomorrow and start to prepare for Concordia Wisconsin. They play a good style and have a few of the more dangerous individuals in the conference."
Benedictine (5-5-1, 4-0 NACC) hosts Concordia Wisconsin on Saturday night.
