Freshman midfielder Justin Riescher scored four second-half goals Tuesday to lead the VMI men’s soccer team to a 4-1 victory over visiting Regent University. The victory is the first for the program since September 5, 2014, breaking a 79-match streak. The young 2018 team has 13 freshmen and nine sophomores on the 27-man roster.
Regent’s Connor Holt found the back of the net in the 26th minute and the Royals entered halftime with the one-goal lead before the Keydets took over.
Sophomore Fabian Munoz-Velasquez found Riescher with a long pass just 2:21 after halftime and he converted to knot the score at one. Riescher took a William Welch centering pass at 62:58 and knocked it in off the left post to give VMI a 2-1 lead. The Coral Springs, Fla. native scored an insurance goal with 10 minutes remaining, off a feed from Sohrab Shaikh, and posted his fourth goal of the game with seven seconds left on a penalty kick.
The Keydets outshot the Royals 31-14 and held a 12-1 edge in corner kicks. Freshman Broden Schull made seven saves while Regent’s Emmett Hammersly stopped nine shots.
“This was the first step to really take the program to the next level,” said VMI head mentor Michael Bonelli. “Now we can move forward into conference play on a high. We have played well the last few games and the win was coming.”
“This is a very tight-knit group and a close locker room. They believe in each other, are never going to give up and are always going to fight. The guys did a good job today and once we can sharpen up the quality going forward, we are going to see a lot of wins here.”
VMI (1-8-1) hosts Mercer University Saturday in the Southern Conference opener for both teams. The program’s three seniors; Shaikh, Miguel Arrate and Jonathan Martinez will be recognized in a pre-game ceremony.
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