NEWBERRY — The Newberry Wolves men’s soccer team collect a 5-0 win against Mars Hill on Saturday evening at Smith Road Complex.
Newberry had an offensive explosion on the pitch this evening. Saturday was the first time since 2008 that the Wolves not only scored five or more goals, but defeated an opponent by the same margin. The last came in early October of 2008 when Newberry beat Wingate 6-1 on the road.
With the victory today, the Wolves get their fifth conference win of the season. This ties the program record in conference play, with still two more conference games this season. The last time Newberry had five wins in conference was in 2008, when the team went 5-2-1 in the South Atlantic Conference.
Another program record that was broken tonight was team shutouts in a season. The win today gave the Wolves there fifth team shutout of the season, the previous stood at four which was done in three separate seasons.
Freshman goalkeeper Leroy Zeller had another great performance in net. Mars Hill created 10 shots throughout the match, with seven being on frame, and the Zulpich, Germany native saved all seven shots he faced. With tonight’s shutout outing by the keeper, Zeller ties the single-season record for shutouts in a season. He ties Will Dieterich with four shutouts, which was set back in 2007.
Fellow German teammate Ibrahim Nadir had a night for himself. The Dusseldorf native was involved in four of Newberry’s five goals. He had the first goal of the match in the 21st minute, when he curled the ball in the near post corner from 20 yards out off a free kick. He scored his second goal after Vojin Manojlovic gave him a give and go at the top of the box. Nadir took three touches after that before shooting the ball toward the far post corner from 15 yards out in the 61st minute to give the Wolves a 3-0 lead.
The second goal was scored by sophomore Sam Ottley in the 41st minute. Ottley tapped the ball in just six yards in front of the net after receiving a cross from Nadir close to the boundary line. A little over four minutes after the third goal, the Wolves were able to find the back of the net. This time sophomore Tommaso Davico got involved to give Newberry a 4-0 lead. The Genova, Italy native shot the ball from 12 yards out to the top right corner, after receiving a pass from Nadir on a give and go play.
The Wolves added one last goal in the 82nd minute of the match. Sophomore Yannis Wome scored his first career goal from 15 yards out. Wome’s shot came off a corner kick from Parker Campbell before settling and taking it.
“Our guys were laser focused these last few days and it showed in our performance tonight. Great total team effort for all 90 minutes. Really proud of this team as we strive to make history,” said Head Coach Bryce Cooper.
The Wolves will play today against Emmanuel (Ga.) at 4:30 p.m.