Pride stay hot with 4-0 road win at Benedictine

ATCHISON, Kan. - Looking to continue strong play as of late in the Heart of America Athletic Conference, the Clarke University men's soccer team scored early and often on their way to a 4-0 victory on the road against Benedictine College on Friday night.

With that 4-0 victory, the Pride posted their first shutout since Oct. 2 at Culver-Stockton and continued a stretch of six of their last seven games scoring three or more goals as they didn't even outshoot the Ravens on Friday but put away more of their quality opportunities.

It got started in the third minute as Luke Persencio continued to show why he's one of the best goal scorers in the NAIA as he collected a deflected pass and fired a shot from about 25 yards out that slid under a diving Noah Reuscher for the first goal of the game and Persenico's 16th of the year, good for a tie for second in the NAIA.

Clarke would tally two more scores in the first half, first off the head of Hector Medrano as he finished off a corner kick from Alfonso Gonzalez for his seventh goal of the season before the Ravens would put one in their own net as an Eikichi Saito cross was redirected by Benjamin Houlihan of BC into the net for the 3-0 lead that CU would take into halftime.

Medrano would strike again as the only goal scorer of the second half to make it the eventual final of 4-0 off of an assist from Persenico within the six-yard box to seal the deal for the Pride.

Back in net for Clarke was Keegan Brennan as the sophomore keeper from Marysville, Wash. would make seven saves on the way to his third win and second shutout of the season after not appearing in the Pride's last seven games before Friday.

CU men's soccer will host their final two home games of the regular season next week when starting with a Wednesday night tilt against Mount Mercy University at Burrows Field for a 7:00 p.m. CT scheduled start on Oct. 23.