Boxscore
WILMINGTON, Del. – Senior Angel Rodriguez scored four goals, two of which were assisted by goalkeeper Ignacio Farias, as the Goldey-Beacom Lightning defeated Chestnut Hill College, 5-2 in their Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference opener Thursday afternoon at Churchman-Sawin Field.
The score was just 1-0 in favor of Goldey-Beacom at halftime, but a scoring frenzy occurred in the second half with the Lightning coming out on top to improve to 3-2 on the season. The loss drops CHC to 1-3-1 (0-2 CACC).
Rodriguez took a game-high eight shots on the day, netting four and hitting both the post and the crossbar at least once. He also assisted on the other Lightning goal scored by senior captain David Nimroozi.
Statistically, the game was played fairly even. GBC had the advantage in shots (19-15), but CHC took five corner kicks to GBC's four.
Rodriguez opened the scoring for the day with a goal off an assist from Farias almost 10 minutes into the action. That would prove to be the only goal of the first half, as the Lightning took a 1-0 lead into the intermission.
A little over 10 minutes into the second half, Nimroozi took a cross from Rodriguez and sent a shot past Griffins' goalkeeper P.J. Tucker to give GBC a 2-0 lead.
Carl Essenthier then scored for CHC on a direct kick from about 30 yards out to bring the Griffins within a goal just after the 60-minute mark. But not two minutes later, Rodriguez took a beautiful feed from freshman Ricky Jackson in the middle of the field and took it down inside the box where he beat Tucker again for his second goal of the day.
Rodriguez was at it again just a little over a minute later, scoring off an assist by Nimroozi as the game approached the 65th minute.
A scrum in front of the Goldey-Beacom net then led to a goal by CHC's Gavin Reid with the game approaching the 75th minute to bring the Griffins within two goals. But a short time later, a punt by Farias into the middle of the field found Rodriguez who split the CHC defense and scored his fourth goal of the day to give the Lightning a 5-2 win.
GBC is back in action on Sat., as the Lightning host another CACC opponent, Dominican at 3 p.m. after the Lightning women's soccer team's game is finished.
