The College of Wooster men's soccer team put forth a historic effort on Saturday afternoon, as the Fighting Scots overwhelmed the College of Mount St. Joseph 9-0 as part of the Marietta Soccer Classic in Marietta, Ohio. The nine goals marked the most for the program since Oct. 4 1986, when Wooster drilled Benedictine (Ill.) University by the same 9-0 score, and the nine assists broke a team record, surpassing the former mark of eight, which occurred way back in 1967.
Wooster (2-0) steadily peppered the Lions' net, piling up 36 shots overall. The first one to find its mark came during the 16th minute off the foot of freshman Brandon Patera, with a rare double assist from Josh Dailey and Noah Wagemann. Patera, who also scored in Wednesday's season opener, was just getting started, though, as he wound up with a hat trick and one assist for a seven-point day – the most by a Scot player since Brian Conaway accomplished the same feat at Oberlin College Oct. 19, 2004.
Patera booted in the second goal of the afternoon just 2:31 later, this time on a pass from Evan Severs.
Freshman Liam Pender and junior Nate Wheeler added the first goals of their career in the 33rd and 38th minutes, respectively, as the Scots took a commanding 4-0 lead into halftime. Wheeler's score came off a feed from first-year Luke Koniarczyk.
About 10 minutes into the second, Wooster hit the back of the net again as Dailey finished an opportunity from Patera, marking the first goal of the junior's career. Patrick Swaney, a sophomore transfer, put the Scots up 6-0 during the 64th minute on an assist from Yousef Aliakbar, and Wheeler tacked on his second goal, assisted by Pender, during the 77th.
Wooster kept up the pressure over the final minutes, with Patera notching the hat trick via a pass from Chris Culbertson in the 84th, and senior Chris DeMoll closing the scoring in the 86th on another helper from Pender. It was the second goal of DeMoll's career.
On the defensive side for the Scots, Taylor Takacs and Luke Butcher combined for the shutout, needing only to make three saves as the backfield held Mount St. Joseph to six shots in all.
Wooster plays Westminster College at Marietta on Sunday.