OXFORD, Ala.—Four goals by senior
Jake Van Der Luit in the first 26 minutes of play set the tone for the Southeastern men's soccer team in a 9-2 win at Talladega Thursday night.
Van Der Luit finished a pass from
Craig Barker at the top of the box in the third minute, then finished a
Julian Hall pass in the fifth to give the Fire a quick advantage. Following a Talladega goal in the 11th minute, Van Der Luit completed the hat trick, finishing another pass from Barker. Five minutes later, the senior intercepted a pass 30 yards away from the goal and drove uncontested into the box to shoot and score his fourth of the day.
"Anytime you produce a ton of goals, it's a lot of fun for our team," said coach
Clay Roberts. "I'm proud of our guys, we executed the way we wanted to. We've had a number of games where we just missed on goals, so it was good to finish those off and hopefully have some confidence going into Saturday's game."
The Tornadoes (1-4-1), picked up their second goal in the 33
rd minute, which was answered four minutes later by
Jackson Darnell with his first of the season, when
Jair Garcia sent a ball from the midfield to
Skylar Funk, who connected with Darnell to give SEU a 5-2 lead at the intermission.
In the second half, Hall found Jesus Martinez who scored his first goal of the season in the 64
th minute, then Hall picked up his first of the year on a feed from Darnell.
Chase Hovious added a tally from an
AJ Davis deflected shot in the 76
th minute, then Van Der Luit picked up his ninth of the season and fifth of the game in the 84
th minute on a pass from
Elvis Castro.
Logan Whitney made four saves in the first half of play, and
Carlos Curado was untested in the second 45 minutes in goal.
The 18
th-ranked Fire return to play on Saturday at home against Brewton Parker at 5 p.m.
