ELKINS – The Davis & Elkins College Men's Soccer team picked up its fifth consecutive shutout victory with a 3-0 win over Findlay in a key Great Midwest battle Thurs night at Nuttall Field.
In a battle between the No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the G-MAC Standings headed into the contest, both teams had a chance early to grab the lead.
Findlay nearly capitalized on a mistake by the Senators in the opening minutes of the game, but
Hedi Mehnaoui was able to knock away a loose ball to ease the early pressure by the visitors.
A few minutes later, the Senators received a penalty kick after a foul in the box by Findlay, but
Pablo Salvador Lopez's effort was denied by Ben Richter to keep the game scoreless.
The game would remain scoreless through the first half, but Salvador Lopez would avenge his missed penalty in the first half with a goal just 81 seconds into the second half. Salvador Lopez hit a well struck shot to the top corner for his third goal of the year after
Simon Hestad set his fellow senior up with a pass directly from a cross to the top of the box by
Fredrik Hedemark.
The Senators would hold the narrow one goal advantage for much of the remainder of the game until
Rafa Moreno doubled the lead for Davis & Elkins, making a great individual effort to work open some space and beat Richter in the 81
st minute for his fourth goal of the season.
With the game nearly put away,
Alex Samarzich would make it 3-0 after he took a cross from
Tim Staerz and pushed it past a sprawling Richter to seal the victory with his first goal of the season. Hedemark also earned an assist on the play.
Mehnaoui was called into action twice and stopped both efforts on target from Findlay to earn his 10
th career shutout and fifth of the season. Mehnaoui is currently riding a 461-minute shutout streak after Thursday night's win.
The Senators have outscored Great Midwest opponents 18-0 during the five-game win streak.
Davis & Elkins will look to extend the streaks when it hosts Ohio Dominican University on Saturday for Homecoming. The Senators, who defeated Ohio Dominican 1-0 in Columbus last week, will kick off at 4:00 p.m. at Nuttall Field.
