The Park University Pirates men's soccer team hosted the Culver-Stockton College Wildcats on Saturday afternoon in the latter match of a soccer doubleheader that saw a celebration of the international student-athletes on both teams. Keeping with the international theme, Park saw team members of three different nationalities convert scoring opportunities into goals on the way to a 4-0 victory.
This weekend victory boosted Park's overall season record to 6-2-2 and moved the Pirates back over .500 in conference play with a record of 3-2-1. On the flip side, Culver-Stockon has yet to find their first win of the season, dropping to 0-9-3 overall and 0-6 in Heart Conference play.
The opening twenty-five minutes saw the Wildcats play the role of the aggressor. Several potential shots on goal were blocked by strong Pirate defense, but this gave the Wildcats the opportunity to try to convert on four corner kick opportunities during the opening minutes. However, none of these were able to connect, and the Pirates got on the board first when Julian Campos, the Lima, Peru native, corralled a deflected ball and sent it into the back left corner of the net.
After that '26 goal by Campos, the Pirates started immediately applying pressure on the Wildcat backline. Two shots by Jacksyn McIntyre and Francesco Esteban went into the hands of Culver-Stockton goalkeeper Tom Freear, but a third try by Diego Quintana would not be stopped. Just like that the senior from Santiago, Chile extended the Pirate lead to 2-0.
Things would only get worse for the Wildcats as the first half continued. Layne Helvey was involved in a skirmish that saw him pick up a yellow card at the thirty-four minute mark. After a hard foul by Quintana earned him his own yellow card, Helvey reacted in a way that saw him get hit with the red card and match disqualification, and Culver-Stockton was forced to play out the remainder of the match down a player.
Besides a couple shots that missed wide right, neither side had a legitimate scoring chance for the remainder of the first half. After the halftime break, Park used their man up advantage to completely dictate the majority of the second half action. An array of shots proceeded, and Campos eventually scored his second goal of the day at '70 to extend the lead to 3-0. Finally, Luka Andonovski, the hometown Kansas City freshman, used a clever assist from Esteban to score the final goal of the day four minutes later.
Overall, the Pirates dominated the shot count 27-5, and put thirteen shots on goal throughout the match. Additionally, the strong defense saw Culver-Stockton not manage to get a shot on goal, which resulted in both Filipe Ramos Peralta and Tyler Snapp seeing some time in goal for Park.
The Pirates go back on the road for their next match on Saturday, October 12, when they will play a noon match against the William Penn Statesmen. The No. 14 Statesmen currently sit at a record of 11-1-1 on the season. WATCH HERE
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