Portsmouth, OH – The UC men's soccer team dominated the Shawnee State Bears with a commanding 9-1 victory. The lopsided win is the most goals Cumberlands has scored this season and is their biggest margin of victory since September 9, 2018 when UC defeated Midway 9-0.

In the first 45 minutes, as a team UC scored four goals, the most they have netted in an opening half this season.

The Patriots wasted no time in this contest getting on the scoreboard. A Bear's turnover in their defensive half allowed Cumberlands to be on the counter attack. Sergio Infantes Castell and Rodrigo Riveros had a clinical one-two pass combination. The final pass from Riveros placed Infantes Castell in front of goal to send the ball into the back of the net for the early 1-0 lead.

UC would double their score from a well-executed corner kick. Infantes Castell took the corner on the left side of the pitch sending a lofted ball to Aleksandar Mirkovic on the back post. He headed the ball back across goal where Gabriel Figurski was standing to score his first goal of the season.

Joel Drewery put his dribbling skills on display in the 32nd minute weaving around defenders. He found himself at the top of the 18-yard box with Alejandro Gonzalez running to his left. Drewery sent a through ball to Gonzalez who slotted the ball past the keeper to give UC the 3-0 lead.

The Bears did get a goal back in the 36 after a misplayed ball out of Cumberlands' defensive third, putting the score at 3-1.

The score would not stay 3-1 for long though and it was once again the superb dribbling and passing from Drewery that led to the UC goal in the 44th minute. Drewery was out on the right flank and sent in a lofted ball to the far post. Riveros made contact with the ball as he was falling to the ground pushing the ball into the net, giving the Patriots the 4-1 advantage.

The second half saw the Patriots net six goals, the most they have scored over the duration of any half this season.

The first two goals of the half would come from Milan Stojanovic with both assists coming from the left side of the field. The first one in the 47th minute was a high cross from Riveros that Stojanovic headed into the right side of the goal. The next was just ten minutes later this time from Luis Jara Encina who sent a low cross in. Stojanovic timed his ruin perfectly to just tap the ball into net giving the Patriots the 6-1 lead.

Another goal for the Patriots would be scored from a corner kick, once again from the left side of the field in the 54th minute. Liam Healey took the corner kick and sent a precise cross to Riveros who shot the ball into the net from just inside the top of the box .

Stephen Appiah scored in a third consecutive game for UC's eight goal of the game. Stojanovic passed a ball up to Drewery. This time Drewery passes the ball off to Appiah who netted the goal and gave Drewery his third assist in the contest with just 22minutes left in the game.

The final goal for the Patriots was scored off the foot of Jara Encina. He received a pass from Bruno Benitez and then weaved his way around the Shawnee State goalkeeper to get the ninth goal of the game in the 77th minute, claiming the 9-1 victory. The assist for Benitez is the first point of his career.

This does mark the biggest MSC score line for the Patriots since 2010 when they defeated Shawnee State10-0. Cumberlands now has back-to-back games of scoring five goals or more since they beat Pikeville 5-0 on Sunday.

The Patriots will return home Sunday, March 21, when they host Georgetown. The game is slated for 3 p.m. with live stats available here, and live video from the UC Sports Network can be found here.
 
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