Junior Chad Johnston tallied his first career hat trick as he scored the Shawnee State's first three goals en route to the Bears' 5-3 victory over Bluefield College to open the 2011 season. Johnston also recorded an assist in the game.

Johnston opened the scoring up in the 13th minute of play on a goal off of a corner kick. Bluefield College's Ryan Wall found Jacob Mader to knot the game at 1-1 just two minutes later. Johnston tallied his second goal unassisted at the 39:01 mark to give the Bears the 2-1 advantage at the half.

The Rams answered early in the second on a goal by Aaron Gerogiades on an assist by Mader to tie the game. The Bears' responded as Johnston scored on a penalty kick at the 54:00 minute mark. In the 61st minutes, Johnston found sophomore Ryan Klear for a goal. Sophomore Yves Nzwanga scored unassisted in the 67th minute to extend the Bears' lead to 5-3. Bluefield's Mader scored his second goal of the game on an assist by Dan Turpin to cut the lead to 5-3, but it wasn't enough as Shawnee State went on to capture the win, 5-3.

Senior Kevin Fischer got the win in goal for the Bears. BC's Jefferson Watson got the loss for the Rams, allowing five goals and recording seven saves.

Shawnee State outshot the Rams 28-6 in the game and 13-3 in shots on goal.

Shawnee State returns to action on September 5th as they travel to Malone for a non-conference game. Kickoff is set for 2:00 p.m.