Men: Rochow Leads Mustangs to Blanking of Warriors

Freshman Austin Rochow scored two second-half goals and The Master’s College men’s soccer team ran away from William Jessup 5-0 Saturday afternoon on Reese Field.

It was the third consecutive win for the Mustangs who lifted their record over the .500 mark (3-2) for the first time in 2012.  Meanwhile, the Warriors fell to 2-4.

Rochow, who tallied his first collegiate goal in Tuesday’s 2-0 win over Bethesda, tacked on two more against the Warriors, tying him with Zach Egeler for the team lead.  The Canyon High School product was around the net all afternoon long, firing off five shots, including three on goal.

He had plenty of help, though, as three of his teammates scored in a dominant first half for the Mustangs.  Junior midfielder Kevin Scheunemann put the Mustangs on the board at the 17:44 mark, taking a pass from freshman Vini Barauna and putting it by Warrior goalie Tim Rusher for his second goal of the season.

Less than 10 minutes later (27:39), Barauna, who leads the club with three assists, got in on the goal-scoring action, tallying his first collegiate goal for a 2-0 lead.

Then, with time ticking down in the opening half, sophomore Jamison Kropilak made it a three-goal advantage, scoring off an Austin Michelson pass with 3:50 remaining before the break.

Besides a 3-0 advantage, a 13-1 shot advantage highlighted the Mustangs’s dominant play.

There was more of the same in the second half as the Mustangs outshot the Warriors 10-0 with Rochow’s goals capping things off.  The first came in unassisted fashion at the 59:20 mark while freshman Joey Mikulas fed Rochow for the match’s final tally with 4:52 remaining to play.

With all of the offensive fireworks and a defense that limited the Warriors to just one shot on goal, it would have been easy to overlook goalie Andrew Bussell.  But, the senior and third-year starter registered his second consecutive shutout, having to make just one save.

With three straight wins under their belt, the Mustangs will go in search of another victory when they travel to Cal State San Marcos on Tuesday.

On Saturday afternoon at Reese Field, the Lady Mustangs squared off against the Bethany College Swedes. After two halves of play the Lady Mustangs topped the Swedes 7-1, and lifted their season record to 4-1-2.

TMC looked like a different team than the one that showed in Thursdays 0-0 double overtime tie against the William Jessup Warriors. The Mustangs drew first blood at the 6:20 mark as a goal from Shea Richards (Palmdale, CA) and an assist by Janelle Sullivan (Riverside, CA) put the Mustangs ahead 1-0.

Moments later at the 12:17 mark, Jasmine Benson (Corona, CA) scored the Mustangs second goal with an assist by Jessica Long (Wailuku, HI) bringing TMC to a 2-0 lead.

After halftime, two consecutive goals were scored by the Lady Mustangs. The first goal came off the foot of Devon Goff (Canyon Country, CA) and was assisted by Jasmine Benson. Shea Richards scored her second goal of the game with another assist by Benson, bringing the score to TMC 4, Bethany College 0.

At the 59:39 mark, and unassisted goal from Long sailed through the bottom left corner of the net past Bethany’s goal keeper, Jasmine Zaker, and brought the Mustang’s lead to 5-0.

Kaili Sholin (Soldotna, AK) scored the sixth goal for TMC at the 66:29 mark with a pass from Benson to bring the lead to 6-0. Notably, Sholin’s goal was her fifth goal of the season.

The Swedes showed a sign of life with 14 minutes left in the game and scored against TMC’s goalie Tita Garcia (Colorado Springs, CO) bringing the score to 6-1.

Determined to hold onto their commanding lead, the Lady Mustang’s Tara Struiskma (Ontario, CA) scored an unassisted goal at the 80:57 mark making the final score 7-1.

“Any time you score seven goals, it’s very exciting and fun” commented head coach Curtis Lewis on Saturday’s match. “It is a little frustrating that we gave up a goal, but I’m proud of them. I feel like they honored the Lord in the way that they played.”

Collectively, the Lady Mustangs had 34 shots, and 22 shots on goal. Shea Richards lead the team with seven shots, four shots on goal, and two goals. Tara Struiksma had six shots, three shots on goal, and one goal.

The Lady Mustangs will have some time to rest before they come out again to Reese field and take on the Bethesda University Flames on September 19, at 4 p.m.