Tuesday’s muggy conditions couldn’t stifle the EMU offense, as the soccer men rolled to a 3-0 win over visiting Southern Virginia. Eastern Mennonite controlled play throughout and fired 42 shots to earn their first victory of the season.
The shot total was easily EMU’s most in a game this decade.
After weathering an opening five minutes where the Knight attempted four of their ten shots, EMU took over. The men fired shot after shot at SVU keeper Jacob Solis, who continued to come up big with saves.
Finally, on their 16th shot of the half, Eastern Mennonite broke through. Reserves Denny Jimenez Fredericksburg, Va./James Monroe) and Leiyan Kariuki (Nairobi, Kenya/St. Patrick) connected in the 43rd minute, with Kariuki using a heel flick to sneak in his first career goal.
That opened the door for the second half.
Caleb Oakes (Waynesboro, Va./Stuarts Draft) hit the left corner of the net in the 58th minute, getting a nice slot across the box from defender Carlos Flores-Melgar (Woodbridge, Va./Gar-Field).
Then with 15:22 remaining, Jimenez found the same spot, getting an assist from Dominic Powers (Culpeper, Va./Fresta Valley Christian) to make it 3-0. For Jimenez, it was his first career goal and assist after playing in just one game over his two previous seasons at EMU.
The Royals ended with a 42-10 shot advantage, putting 20 of their attempts on mark. Emmanuel Kampanga (Kinshasa, Congo/American School) made six saves. Solis racked up 10 saves for SVU before being lifted at halftime. SVU reserves added seven more saves in the final 45 minutes.
Now 1-1-1, Eastern Mennonite heads to Raleigh, N.C., on Saturday for a 12:00pm game at William Peace.
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