Ave Maria, Fla. – Three quick strikes in the first half propelled Lynn University's 18th-ranked men's soccer team to a 3-0 victory over Ave Maria on Wednesday night. The Fighting Knights, 5-1-0 overall, had to contend with an hour and a half lightning delay and two power outages to pick up their fifth consecutive victory.
It took a mere two minutes for the Blue & White to grab a 1-0 lead. Harald Gracholski was able to break free from his defender after a flip pass by Johnny Mertl and the graduate forward buried his shot into the right side netting.
Heiko Eberhardt notched his first career multi-goal game with the Fighting Knights, finding the back of the net twice in a five minute span. His first score came in the 21st minute of play off a free kick by Michael Kutscher. Then, in the 26th minute, the graduate midfielder slipped an attempt past keeper Andres Martin to finish of LU's scoring.
The Knights' defense smothered Ave Maria throughout the match, holding the Gyrenes without a shot attempt in the first half and just one in total. A.B. Magnusson and Jason Sangha anchored the defense along with James Aldred and Kutscher but were aided in their fourth shutout by Lewis Clack and Sam Shorrocks.
Lynn returns to the pitch on Saturday, September 24, at 7 p.m. when it travels to Lakeland, Fla., to battle Florida Southern. Fans can follow all of the action live by logging on to www.LynnFightingKnights.com.
