Box Score GOSHEN, Ind. — Like father, like son.
Lucas Bontreger notched his first career hat trick Saturday night, following in the footsteps of the four 3-goal games posted by his father Myron, and the Goshen College men's soccer team outscored Indiana University Northwest 6-0 at the John Ingold Athletic Complex.
Goshen (3-4) blitzed the RedHawks (0-7) with 18 shots in the first half, but didn't get on the scoreboard until the 15th minute. Henrique Eichenberger's through ball up the left side touchline found Bontreger for a cross into the penalty area, which Christian Saleh finished for a 1-0 lead.
Less than 10 minutes later, Bontreger added his first goal on a rebound: Matt Granitz's shot was saved by the IUN goalkeeper and glanced off the goalpost, falling to the foot of the sophomore for a finish to the far post to make it 2-0 with 21:19 to play.
Bontreger would score again on a corner kick from Kristian Gecaj with 13:22 left in the half and Uriel Macias added a penalty kick three minutes later to make it 4-0 at intermission.
Eichenberger found the back of the net on a free kick with 22:22 left in the second half for a 5-0 lead, and Bontreger finished the scoring at 7:33 on Granitz's second assist of the night.
The hat trick was the fifth for the only father-son duo on record to score three goals in a game for the Maple Leafs: it was, by necessity, the first such game in almost three decades since Myron Bontreger graduated in 1991.
Maxwell Higgins was tested early and often for IU Northwest, making eight saves. Tomas Fonseca recorded two stops for GC and Zach Bauman added one as the Maple Leafs turned to a backup netminder for the first time this season.
IUN used a total of nine substitutes while Goshen played five: nine Maple Leafs took at least one shot and Bontreger led all players with 9. GC finished with 31 attempts and allowed 4 while racking up 10 corner kicks.
The Maple Leafs wrap up non-conference play Tuesday evening against another first-year program when Governors State University comes calling for a 7 p.m. kickoff. The team will be idle at week's end before lifting the lid on its Crossroads League schedule on Wednesday, Sept. 25.