Five different players scored as the Wilmington College men's soccer team claimed the 2017 Wilmington Kiwanis Classic title with an 8-1 rout of UC-Clermont Saturday on Townsend Field in Williams Stadium. Wilmington and Hanover both finished 2-0, but WC earned the championship thanks to its plus-14 goal differential.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Seven of Wilmington's eight goals came in the first half with five different players finding the back of the net.
- The Fightin' Quakers seized control of the game midway through the first half, scoring three goals in less than a minute of action. A hand ball in the box led penalty kick by Niklas Martensson (Torna Hallestad, Sweden / NTI), and then sophomore Roman Kirschner (Opava, Czech Republic/Mendel's Grammar School) scored back-to-back goals.
- Martensson joined Kirschner as a multiple goal scorer, tallying a marker in the 50th minute –making the score 8-0.
- Junior Benny Spirk (Wilmington, OH/Wilmington), junior Treshaun Pate (Cincinnati, OH/Princeton) and sophomore Gabriel Nygard (Karra, Sweden/Sjolins Gymnasium) all got in the scoring action. Wilmington's other goal was an own goal.
- Junior Daniel Kappelin (Pixbo, Sweden/IHGR) finished with a career-high three assists.
COACHES CORNER
"We were focused," said Wilmington head coach Bud Lewis. "I thought if we played well, played with purpose, and didn't have a letdown knowing we were playing a team that had been struggling - we would be able to create some really good scoring chances. We had some really good scoring chances early on and we just didn't finish them. All of a sudden, bang, bang, bang, and then the first team was creating chances nearly every time they got possession. It would have been easy to letdown, particularly after the emotional game yesterday. I thought our guys focused, and it was good to see us put some goals together."
"We didn't want to take UC-Clermont lightly, they have given teams some real competitive games, and we wanted to win this tournament," said Lewis.
ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM
- Jonah Rinear, Mamadou Fofano (UC-Clermont)
- Edwin Blanco, Austin Lewis (Wittenberg)
- Thomas Doerning, Will Bridgeman, Ian Waldrop (Hanover)
- Benny Spirk, Chris Bourque, Roman Kirschner, Tommy Logan (Wilmington)
WHAT'S NEXT
Wilmington (3-3-1) travels to Earlham 4 p.m. Wednesday for another meeting of the Quaker Cup Series. The Fightin' Quakers currently hold a 2-0 lead in the annual rivalry.
