BLACK MOUNTAIN, N.C.— The Montreat men's soccer team used a scoring outburst and its first clean sheet of the 2021 season to get back in the win column on Wednesday night, defeating the Kentucky Christian Knights, 7-0. With the win, the Cavaliers improved to 5-5 overall and 4-4 in the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC).
 
Ricardo Araujo opened the match's scoring with a brace. In the 7^th minute, Rodrigo Jimenez fed Andy Del Angel on a break down the left flank. Del Angel played a cross along the turf into the box, where Araujo received the pass. Araujo faked a shot to shift the defender in front of him, slid the ball onto his left foot and guided a shot inside the right post to open the scoring.
 
In the 23^rd minute, Araujo took advantage of a failed clearance that was headed out to the top of the box. The header landed right at Araujo's feet, and he clinically struck the ball into the upper right corner for the Cavaliers' 2-0 lead.
 
Just three minutes and 10 seconds later, Rodrigo Jimenez found the first goal of what would eventually be a hat trick. Jimenez stole the ball away from a KCU defender near the top of the box. With two defenders near him, Jimenez dribbled to his right to create extra space and fired a shot into the left netting.
 
Montreat didn't take long to add on to its 3-0 halftime lead. In the 48^th minute, Hugo Rodriguez scored his lone goal of the match. Jimenez's initial blast was saved by the Knights' goalkeeper, but the rebound fell to the goal-hungry Rodriguez, who cleaned up the loose ball and put the Cavs on top, 4-0.
 
Jimenez's second goal of the match came from the result of some quick, intelligent passing between Araujo and Ethan Kerns in the 69^th minute. Araujo took the pass from Kerns and played a gorgeous through ball to Jimenez in the center of the box. Jimenez made a threatening run, opened his hips and guided the ball into the right netting for the 5-0 lead.
 
Forty-three seconds later, the Cavs scored again. In a similar fashion to the previous goal moments prior, Kerns and Araujo combined to set up the goal-scorer. Carlos Hernandez was the recipient of the quality passing this time, tapping in the cross played from out wide.
 
Montreat's final goal came in the 81^st minute, and it proved to be the missing piece for Jimenez's hat trick. Kerns beat his defender on a run down the right flank and along the end line. Using his run, Kerns squared a ball in the box toward Jimenez, who redirected the pass with his right foot by the KCU goalkeeper and into the net. Kentucky Christian (0-8, 0-6 AAC) never truly challenged Jesus Ramos in goal, and the Cavaliers secured the clean sheet to get back into the win column with the 7-0 victory.

"I am glad we were finally able to get our first shutout of the season," said head coach Michael Bruce. "It has been a tough run of games, and it is good to get back to winning ways. I pray we can start to build momentum in the second half of the season."
 
The Montreat men's soccer team starts a four-match road trip this weekend with a Saturday afternoon non-conference matchup at No. 13 Georgia Gwinnett College. Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m.