Pride overcome shaky start in big way to 7-2 win over No. 25 Baker
DUBUQUE, Iowa - Coming off of scoring five goals twice in their last three games, the Clarke University men's soccer team scored their most goals in a game since the 2020 season in a 7-2 victory over No. 25 Baker University at Burrows Field on Saturday night.
It was a less than ideal start for the Pride as BU would take a 1-0 lead in the third minute when a misplay from CU goalkeeper Philipp Kohle led to an open net goal from Jacob Thomas to quiet the Clarke faithful very early into the game.
Not too long after that Eikichi Saito would send a cross to an open Hector Medrano as the junior striker would make a good touch to settle the ball to fire a left-footed shot that was be partially deflected by Wildcat goalie Christian Villegas but still find the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1 in the 12th minute of the game.
About 11 minutes later, a Clarke barrage would begin behind senior Luke Persenico as the St. Charles, Ill. native would first draw a foul in the box to give the Pride a penalty kick as he would step to the spot and score his eighth goal of the season and wouldn't be done there.
In the next minute, a CU corner kick taken by Alfonso Gonzalez was perfectly fed to the spot where Persenico stood unmarked for his header to make it 3-1 Clarke for Gonzalez's third assist of the season and his fourth-straight game with a point.
The Pride would draw another penalty kick when Medrano was fouled in the box to then step to the spot himself, scoring his second goal of the game and fifth goal of the season to take a 1-1 game to 4-1 in the span of about five minutes of game time.
Persenico would add two more, the first right at the end of the first half to record a hat trick in the opening 45 minutes when a Donovan Lowe pass sprung Persenico behind the defense where he would beat Villegas with a dribble move to slide the ball over the goal line to make it a 5-1 game at halftime.
In the 52nd mintue of the game, just seven minutes into the half, Persenico would record his first career four-goal game in a similar fashion as his third goal, getting fed a long ball from Carles Aparisi to have another one-on-one opportunity against Villegas to finish with a far post shot to give Clarke a 6-1 lead.
With his four-goal performance, Persenico set a new career-high for goals in a game as a hat trick (three goals) was Persenico's previous career-high set in his freshman season of 2021, when he did so twice. Saturday's four goals was also his third game of the 2024 campaign scoring more than one goal, breaking his previous career-high for multi-goal games of two which was also set in his freshman and sophomore seasons.
Now with 11 goals on the year, Persenico has also tied his career-high for goals in a season, when he finished the 2022 season with 11 in 15 games as he has reached those 11 goals in just nine games this season while also having six regular season games still remaining on the schedule.
A near miss for a fifth goal would be Persenico's final opportunity but not the final opportunity for CU as they would finish with 18 total shots, nine in each half, with the final Pride goal coming off of the foot of Tommy Rea, who collected a long ball from Alonso Campos, was in behind the defense against substitute goalie Camden Wiseman where Rea would dribble by Wiseman and slide the ball into the net for his first career goal.
Pride men's soccer will return to non-conference play for their final game away from Heart play for the 2024 season when William Wood University comes to Burrows Field for a 6:30 p.m. CT scheduled kickoff against the Owls on Tuesday, Oct. 8.