Humphrey Mahowa | Courtesy TMC Athletics

Santa Clarita, CA — Humphrey Mahowa is just starting to take off and the timing couldn’t be better for The Master’s College as conference play looms right around the corner.

After scoring just one goal through the Mustangs’ first five matches, the reigning GSAC Player of the Year has put the ball in the net four times in the past two matches, including a couple against Bethesda in a 5-0 shutout Tuesday afternoon on Reese Field.

The club’s second consecutive blanking gave the Mustangs a season-high, three-game winning streak and improved their overall record to 5-1-1.

Mahowa (Lilongwe, Malawi) didn’t waste any time, scoring both of his goals within 34 seconds of each other in the match’s ninth minute.  He put the first one in the net at the 8:15 mark off an assist from Lloyd Virgill (Canoga Park, CA) and then added his fifth goal of the season at 8:49 in unassisted fashion.

The Mustangs threatened several other times during the opening 45 minutes but Mahowa’s shots were the club’s only ones on goal in the first half.  Meanwhile, Mustang keeper Kyle Cunningham (Saugus, CA) was somewhat busy, turning away three Bethesda shots.  He would record one more save in the second half as he stayed unbeaten between the pipes at 4-0.

His teammates gave him even more insurance in the second half and freshman Trevor Mangan (Saugus, CA) ignited the onslaught, scoring on a 40-yard laser off a Christopher Logan (Orange, CA) assist at 59:28. Mangan’s third goal of the season gave his club a 3-0 advantage.

Mangan was around for the fourth score of the game, too, assisting along with Benjamin Tembo (Lilongwe, Malawi) on Virgill’s header that went between the pipes for his team-high sixth goal of the campaign at the 62:46 mark.   Virgill leads the club in scoring with 14 points (six goals, two assists).

Then, just over six minutes later (68:59), the Mustangs closed out the match’s scoring when freshman Jonathan Brown (Gig Harbor, WA), taking passes from Mangan and Tembo, slammed his first collegiate goal past Flames’ keeper Jose de Jesus Diaz.

The Mustangs wound up with an 8-4 shots-on-goal advantage and their five goals and six assists were the second-highest, single-match marks of the season.

Boasting 14 goals in their past two matches, the Mustangs hope to keep their offense in high gear this Saturday when they travel to Irvine to face former GSAC foe and now NCAA Division II opponent Concordia.