Burd's Hat Trick Paces Keuka Men's Soccer
Heading into Saturday's Family Weekend home game against Gallaudet University, the Keuka College men's soccer team had scored 11 goals and averaged of 2.2 goals per game during its 4-1 start to the 2011 season.
Against the Bison, a creative and aggressive Storm attack exploded for four first-half goals en route to a 7-0 victory Saturday at the Jephson Community Athletic Complex.
Junior Ron Burd (Penn Yan, NY/Penn Yan) scored his first three goals of the season, junior John Mastrella (Rochester, NY/Greece Athena) scored two first-half goals and freshman Alex Palermo (Rochester, NY/Greece Athena) and sophomore Mel Rogers (Geneseo, NY/Geneseo) each added a goal as the Storm (5-1 overall, 2-1 North Eastern Athletic Conference) scored its most goals of the season.
Sophomore Nate Schreiber (Hilton, NY/Hilton) added two assists and sophomore Franklin Koehler (Bath, NY/Bath) added an assist in the highest-scoring game for the Storm since a 9-0 road win at D'Youville College on Oct. 3, 2007.
"We knew we were going to have a big crowd today and we wanted to show them all what we can do," Burd said after the second career hat trick at any level of organized soccer.
"With our talented offense, we know we can score seven goals in a game against a good conference opponent. We've had our opportunities this year and we haven't converted, but today we worked hard to get in a good position, we had people in the right place and we worked hard for our chances, so those factors led to our great offense. This will definitely build our confidence."
Following the men's game, Keuka College paid tribute to the late Mr. Lyle P. Corey by inducting the former president of the Stormwatchers sports booster club into its Athletic Hall of Fame. Also, the beautiful press box, which is used primarily for the Storm's soccer and lacrosse teams, was dedicated in honor of Mr. Corey, who passed away in Aug. of 2010.
Keuka enjoyed a 29-5 edge in shots, including a 19-2 advantage in the second half, as eight different Keuka players recorded shots on goal.
Defensively, the Storm denied Gallaudet's (0-5, 0-2 NEAC) forwards and midfielders, and the Bison struggled all game to maintain a sustained attack. Neither team was able to get a shot on goal over the first nine minutes.
Following a scoreless first 12 minutes and 42 seconds, the Storm struck first after some nice passing from Schreiber. Schreiber received the ball on the far side of the goal and made a perfect touch to Mastrella, who converted his header into the upper-left corner of the goal for a 1-0 lead in the 13th minute.
Less than three minutes later, sophomore Koehler made a quick touch from inside the goal box to Palermo. Palermo scored to the far post for a 2-0 lead with 29:44 remaining in the first half.
Mastrella scored his second goal of the half roughly 11 minutes later. After getting the ball outside of the box, Mastrella dribbled in and pushed his shot into towards the far side of the goal for a 3-0 lead. The Storm scored three times in less than 15 minutes to seize control of the game on a sunny Parents' Day game, but Keuka wasn't done scoring in the half.
Burd, who was held scoreless during Keuka's first five games, took on the Gallaudet keeper 1-on-1 and scored into the far portion of the goal with 11:24 remaining in the half. The score stayed 4-0 through the end of the half, but Keuka – specifically Burd – tacked on two more goals in a span of 9:11 to extend the lead to 6-0.
Rogers finished the scoring with an unassisted goal in the 69th minute.
"We came out fired up today with a lot of energy, and they just couldn't match our energy and our pace," Mastrella said after his second two-goal game this year upped his season total to a team-high four goals.
"We had 10 days off (between now and our last game against D'Youville), and coach (Matt Tantalo) called this our second preseason. We had good pace with our attack … This is a team game, we don't get these great chances without people making good plays to set us up. We were unselfish and found the open people."
Junior Derek Condon (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) started and made one save. Freshman Shane Bly (Rochester, NY/Greece Arcadia) played the entire second half and also made one save for the Storm.
The Storm return to action with a 1 p.m. NEAC clash Sunday afternoon against Penn State-Harrisburg back at the Jephson Community Athletic Complex.
