Men's Soccer 9/10/2017 7:07:00 PM

Mastrangelo's hat trick leads SFU to victory

BOX SCORE Loretto, Pa. - Junior forward Mario Mastrangelo (Venetia, Pa/Peters Township) injected life into a scoreless game with his third career hat trick, all of which came in the second half, to lead the Saint Francis men's soccer team (3-3) to a 3-0 victory over Colgate (3-3) on Sunday.

Moore's Reaction

"I'm really pleased with the guys," said head coach Antony Moore. "It was going to take a good performance from us against a good Colgate team and the guys showed up and battled. We wanted to protect the home field, as we have a good record at home, and fortunately, we were able to do that."

Highlights

The first half was a defensive struggle as both teams registered just three first half shots. Mastrangelo capitalized on the first quality chance of the match for either side in the 57th minute, linking with sophomore midfielder Jacob Gratzer (Olmstead Falls, OH/St. Edward's) on a quick one-two to get in behind the Raider defense. The savvy forward then showed off his finishing abilities, deftly chipping the ball over the hard-charging keeper.
Trailing 1-0 with 14 minutes to play, Colgate used its size to its advantage, heading a long throw-in on target, but senior goalkeeper Marcus Rojas (Fremont, Calif./Bellarmine College Preparatory) was up to the task with a diving save to keep SFU in front.
Mastrangelo scored his second of the match in the 82nd minute. Sophomore Renan Fuentes (Sao Paolo, Brazil/Colegio Joao XXIII) held up the ball in the midfield then split the center backs with a through ball that Mastrangelo buried.
The hat trick was complete in the 84th minute. Freshman Lucas Rosa (Atibaia Brazil/COC Atibaia) started the attack with some impressive control in his own half, finding Fuentes further up the pitch. Fuentes then found Mastrangelo for the second time in as many minutes with a through ball. Mastrangelo raced by the Raider defense then touched the ball around the keeper before depositing into the open net to close the scoring.

Notes

Colgate led in shots, 11-9.
Shots on goal were 4-1 in favor of the Red Flash.
Mastrangelo recorded a perfect shooting percentage with three goals on three shots.
Sophomore forward Kyle Moerschbacher (State College, PA/State College) earned his first career start in the victory.
Fuentes doubled his career point total with his two assists.
Gratzer and Rosa each collected their second assists of the season.
The Red Flash have scored at least three goals in three of its six matches.
The NCAA lead for goals scored entering Saturday was six, shared by Foster Langsdorf (Stanford) and Mamadou Guirassy (NJIT). With his hat trick, Mastrangelo upped his total to six.
The last player to score a hat trick for Saint Francis was Mastrangelo himself. He scored two as a freshman in wins over Central Connecticut State and Sacred Heart.
Rojas earned his first clean sheet of the season and the 13th of his career, which ranks 6th in school history.