Box Score LANCASTER, Pa. – Franklin & Marshall's men's soccer team proved why it's worthy of the nation's No. 1 ranking, dominating McDaniel by a 5-0 score in a lopsided Centennial Conference (CC) contest on Saturday afternoon at Tylus Field.
The win allowed the Diplomats to remain unbeaten on the year at 12-0, 4-0 CC, while the Green Terror fell to 2-8-2, 0-5 CC.
Scoring chances were abundant for F&M throughout, with the barrage of opportunites on net reaching fruition in the 15th minute. Chase TenBrook notched his team-leading eighth marker of the year, moving across the box left to right before firing a shot in the lower left of the net for the 1-0 advantage.
Holding onto the one-goal edge in the 38th minute of the first, a Conor Pellas' corner from the left side was sent into the box, hit off the head of Ben Wild, deflected off a McDaniel defender and finally off the head of freshman midfielder Cole Niggeman for the first goal of his career.
Ugo Okolie needed just nine minutes into the second to extend the lead, working his way around a defender with a slick one-on-one move along the left side and finding the lower right corner of the net for the 3-0 lead.
F&M continued to tack on when a short cross from Ryan Fincher found the foot of Jason Tonelli, who ricocheted a ball off the crossbar and in. Fincher dished out another helper just three minutes later, this time finding Dave Martin on the right side of the box for a strike to wrap up the scoring for the Diplomats.
Trevor Britton (12-0) picked up the win after turning back the only shot he faced. The senior goalkeeper was relieved by Josh Gotlib for the final 30 minutes of action, who did not face a shot throughout his time in net. The Green Terror's Nick Over (2-8-2) was dealt the loss, allowing all five goals and registering seven saves.
Shots favored F&M by an outstanding 26-1 mark, while corners also belonged to the Diplomats at 6-2. TenBrook paced the attack with five shots, followed by four from Niggeman.
CC competition continues for the Diplomats next Saturday when F&M travels to Johns Hopkins for a 1:00 p.m. tilt.
