The men’s soccer team opened up River States Conference (RSC) play last Thursday after a nine-day break in games. The Pioneers traveled to Asbury University first, where they took a 2-1 loss. Then last Saturday the men exploded for an 8-1 victory over Cincinnati Christian University (CCU), six of those goals coming in the second half.

Coming off of a nine-day break is never easy for a team.

“Long breaks definitely have an effect on the way our team plays,” senior Giovoni Lebrun said. “With such a long break we tend to fall out of our rhythm of playing both mentally and physically in a game.”

In the game against Asbury, sophomore Roberto Whitley opened up the scoring in the 22nd minute with his third goal of the season. It was the only goal for either team until Asbury put one past goalie Ryan Daniels in the 74th minute. Two minutes later, Asbury struck again to take the lead and the win with a 2-1 final.

This was the Pioneers first loss after a five-game winning streak, giving them a 5-3 (0-1) record.

The Pioneers were back on the road to CCU, where they tallied eight goals in an 8-1 victory. Whitley again found himself on the score street, this time with four goals in the match.

“As an attacker, scoring goals is what we want to do,” Whitley said. “So when we score so many in a game I feel like I am doing my job well.”

The scoring was opened up with Whitley’s first goal in the early minutes of the game. He followed with his second tally in the 27th minute. CCU got a shot past goalie Juan Somoza, making the score 2-1 at the half.

In the first 11 minutes of the second half, the Pioneers put up five more goals, taking full control of the game.

Sophomore Marc Bentley scored one minute into the second half, followed closely by fellow sophomore Wessel Rietveld, who scored two goals in two minutes.

Whitley completed his first career hat trick by scoring two more times in the 53rd and 56th minute. The scoring halted for 20 minutes until junior Nawfel Bichiba netted the eighth-and-final goal of the game in the 77th minute.

“It was great for us to get on the first minute of the second half,” Bentley said. “We just didn’t let our foot off the gas from there.”

Throughout the game the Pioneers took 44 total shots with 31 shots on goal, with 27 of the total shots coming in the second half.

Somoza played all 90 minutes of the game and was able to make five saves for the win.

The Pioneers return home Friday at 1:30 p.m. against Midway University. Point Park stays home Sunday to host Brescia University at 11 a.m.