McDonald Scores Hat Trick in Spartans 100th Victory
Sep 27, 2012 | J.Crane
GRINNELL, IOWA – The University of Dubuque Men’s Soccer team picked up its fifth straight win on Wednesday night with a 4-0 victory over Grinnell College. The victory for UD was the 100th for the Men’s Program. Iowa Conference Men’s Soccer Offensive Performer of the Week Nick McDonald (Cary, Ill./Cary Grove) continued his outstanding play with his third straight game with multiple goals. UD is now 7-2-0 on the season and 3-2 on the road. The Spartans were ranked #7 in the latest NSCAA North Region Poll released on September 26th.
Continuing their strong play, the Spartans jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 20th minute when McDonald scored his first of three goals on the day. Assisting on the play was Zachary Matuszak (St. Charles, Ill./North). UD held a 10-3 shot advantage and 7-2 lead in shots on goal in the first half.
The game would stay close until the 65th minute when McDonald took over and scored unassisted putting UD up 2-0. Under three minutes later, McDonald scored his third of the day when Reynaoldo Marshall (Orlando, Fla./Kileen) sent a deep pass that McDonald tracked down and finished. McDonald now has a team high 13 goals on the season, the third highest total in school history. He has also scored in five consecutive games.
Abraham Gonzalez (Santa Paula, Calif./Santa Paula) finished the UD scoring in the 77th minute with his first goal of the season.
Jake O’Rourke (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gormon) finished with four saves in the shutout. The UD defense held Grinnell to six total shots for the game.
UP NEXT: The Spartans return to Iowa Conference action when they travel to Pella, Iowa on Saturday, September 29th to play Central College (3-5-1 overall, 1-0-0 IIAC). Game time is 3:00pm. Live video and stats for the game can be found at: http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/dbq.portal#
