Portsmouth, Ohio – Shawnee State men's soccer picked up their first victory of the season on Friday evening, defeating Grace Christian (Mich.) 4-0 at Knights Field in Grayson, Kentucky.
SSU would get all four goals in the first half and begin the scoring early. Moments after Cian Broens (FR/Maastricht, Netherlands)' shot on goal was saved by Jentzen Mehl, Ryan Smith (SO/Chillicothe, Ohio) would fire home off a Shane Zimmerman (SO/South Webster, Ohio) pass, giving Shawnee State a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute. The second goal would come only a few minutes later in the 16th minute, when Zimmerman would get his own goal, assisted by Caspar Nolte (SR/Germantown, Ohio) and doubling SSU's advantage.
The first half barrage of shots would continue, and Shawnee State would score twice more. Kevin deLang (FR/Genemuiden, Netherlands)e would find the back of the net in the 22nd minute unassisted, putting SSU up 3-0. Nolte would then cap off the scoring in the 29th minute, finishing off a deLange assist to put SSU up 4-0. Shawnee State would cruise to the victory from there, holding Grace Christian to a shutout for the team's first win of 2018.
Shawnee State dominated the ball for most of the game, borne out by their 23-9 advantage in shots over Grace Christian. SSU put 12 shots on goal, forcing eight saves from Mehl and Drew Steensma. SSU also led in corner kicks 4-2.
The win improves Shawnee State to 1-1-0. Grace Christian falls to 0-2-0 on the season.
Shawnee State men's soccer returns to action on Saturday, September 1 at home against Rochester (Mich.). Kickoff from Shawnee Turf is set for 7:00pm.
