#10 LMU Thrashes Mars Hill in Men’s Soccer

HARROGATE, TN – Some may call it fate, others may call it destiny.  Whatever it is, the soccer gods continued to shine on the Lincoln Memorial University men’s soccer team Wednesday afternoon in their 9-1 thrashing of future South Atlantic Conference opponent Mars Hill College.  The win also puts the Railsplitters a step closer to their first ever NCAA Regional Tournament appearance. (Box score)

To say that LMU wasted little time in gaining the upper hand in Wednesday’s match would be an understatement.  In fact, the Railsplitters jumped out to a 3-0 lead a little more than six minutes into the match on goals by Felipe Nogueira, Diogo Silvy, and Leandro Pereira.  The goals were assisted by teammates Guilherme Alves, Leonardo de Barros and Diogo Silvy.

With the match only in its early stages, the Railsplitters didn’t take the lead for granted.  Diogo Silvy tacked on two more goals before the end of the half to complete the hat trick with help from Claudio Rico and Pedro Canineu.  The offensive barrage gave Lincoln Memorial a commanding 5-0 lead going into the intermission.

As the second half got underway, Mars Hill was able to put some wind back into the sails when a foul occurred inside the box, allowing Daniel Waymont to place a penalty kick into the back of the net to give the Lions their only score of the match.

For the remainder of the game, it was the Leonardo and Leandro show, with Leonardo de Barros scoring LMU’s sixth goal on an assist by teammate Claudio Rico at the 60:52 mark, and Leandro Pereira scoring his fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth goals of the year with help from Ian Richardson, Jon Williams and Diogo Silvy.

The loss drops Mars Hill to 5-7-2 on the year while the tenth ranked Railsplitters improve to 12-0-2 and remain among the ranks of the unbeaten heading into Friday’s road match against Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina.