Pride win chaotic 5-2 game at Park

PARKVILLE, Mo. - Playing their first game in the month of September in the Heart of America Athletic Conference opener, the Clarke University men's soccer team earned a 5-2 win on the road against Park University on Saturday afternoon.

The high-scoring game got started early as CU's Luke Persenico scored back-to-back goals and assisted on another in the first six minutes of the game, first in the third minute following up a shot that was saved by Park keeper Felipe Ramos Peralta rebounding straight back to him to score the game's opening goal.

Less than a minute later, Joshua Reddy would send a ball long down the field from his center back position that Persenico would race under, shield off a defender on his back while escaping a charging Ramos Peralta and slide the ball into an open net to make it 2-0 without four full minutes of clock even gone.

Not even two minutes later, another Reddy long ball would send Persenico forward, as this time the senior winger would find his striker, Hector Medrano, who would take a first touch strike, beating Ramos Peralta again for a 3-0 Pride lead in the sixth minute.

Clarke would grow their first half lead to 4-0 but it would take a bit more time to get that fourth goal as Donovan Lowe would get his first action for the Pride this season where the freshman from Montreal would beat a defender one-on-one in the box with a nice dribble move and chip a shot over Ramos Peralta for his first goal of the season.

The Pirates would get on the board about a minute later, earning a penalty kick in the 32nd minute where Jacksyn McIntyre would step to the spot and beat Keegan Brennan to make it a 4-1 game, where would stay until halftime.

Brennan was strong in just his second start for CU, making nine saves on 11 shots on goal against as the second goal he surrendered came on a in-tight opportunity by Marcos Fernandes as he fought through traffic and contact to score as the Pride defense contested for a handball to be called.

Prior to the Fernandes goal, the Pride scored their fifth of the game as Daniel Valverde notched his second goal of the season by heading home a bouncing ball following a corner kick that riccocheted off of various players before finding the head of the Madrid, Spain native.

Along with the early barrage of goals from Clarke, the game had a generall chaotic nature with 34 total fouls called, 26 on CU alone, and 16 cards handed out, all yellows with two being second yellow cards, one for Medrano of the Pride and the other on Park head coach Edrem Shimlis.

Pride men's soccer will continue on the road to start Heart play with a Tuesday evening matchup against William Penn University in Oskaloosa, Iowa on Sept. 17 for a 5:00 p.m. CT start against the Statesmen.