Offensive explosion finishes with a 6-4 Clarke men's soccer win over Dordt

SIOUX CENTER, Iowa - Four first half goals and another Luke Persenico hat trick on the week carried the Clarke University men's soccer team to a 6-4 victory over Dordt University on Saturday night.

It was a huge first half that helped power the Pride to a 4-0 advantage at the break as their first two came in quick succession with Lorran De Almeida and Persenico both scored in the 20th minute, about 10 seconds appart according to the stats report. Persenico got his second goal in the 28th minute and David Palma scored in the 42nd minute to give CU that halftime 4-0 lead.

In the second half, the Defenders made it very interesting after scoring the first goal of the second 45 minutes before De Almeida scored his second of the game to make it 5-1 in the 52nd minute. DU then scored the next three goals as Dordt's Blake Hansen recorded his own hat trick in the game to make it 5-4 in the 63rd minute.

Persenico iced the game with his third goal of the game in the 82nd minute on an assist from Patrick Asamoah for his second hat trick this week and seventh goal of the season.

Clarke men's soccer will play again in a week when they travel to La Crosse, Wis. for the second time this season, this time to face Viterbo University on Sept. 11 at 1:00 p.m. CT.