Ignacio Alconchel and Luis De La Fuente each scored a natural hat trick as Tusculum University broke through with an 8-0 victory over Emory & Henry College in South Atlantic Conference men's soccer action Wednesday night.
The victory for the Pioneers (1-6-4, 1-4-3 SAC) snapped a 22-match winless streak dating to a 4-2 win at Lees-McRae on Sept. 7, 2021 in which Alconchel also scored a hat trick. Tusculum was 0-16-6 during the drought, with eight of their 16 losses coming by one goal including five of six this season.
Damien Baltide and Gui Busato also scored for the Pioneers, whose eight goals were the most in a single match since a 10-0 victory over Charleston (W.Va.) on Sept. 9, 2005, and the most in a SAC match for Tusculum since an 11-0 win at Newberry exactly 20 years earlier on Oct. 12, 2002.
The hat tricks for Alconchel and De La Fuente mark the first time that a Pioneer duo each collected three goals in a match since the Charleston win in 2005, when both Dave Bailey and Malick Jobe pulled off the feat.
Tusculum finished with a decisive 31-7 advantage in shots over Emory & Henry (0-11-0, 0-8-0 SAC), including a 16-4 margin in shots on goal. Six of the eight goals for the Pioneers came in the second half, including two from Alconchel and all three by De La Fuente.
The Wasps applied pressure early, forcing De Freitas to lunge to his left to knock away a long shot by Nino Egli in the second minute. The Pioneers' first shot would come in the fifth minute, when Wasps' keeper Spencer Scott dove to his left to deny Cristobal Morales off a Tusculum corner kick.
De Freitas would again knock a shot away with a lunge to the left off a try from 20 yards by Beh Reh in the eighth minute. De Freitas would come out to challenge Egli in the 10th minute, sliding to knock a shot away from near the top corner of the box. Egli would try again from 30 yards in the 17th minute, but De Freitas collected the easy stop.
Tusculum went ahead 1-0 when a shot by Morales went solid off the left post and caromed directly to Baltide, who sent a shot to the far post past Scott for his second goal of the season.
Scott would make a sprawling stop on a breakaway attempt by Alconchel in the 39th minute, but was injured on the play and had to be replaced in goal by Tyler Catron. Off the restart, J-P Vital played down the right side to Busato, whose perfect cross was headed in by Alconchel for his second goal of the season at 38:28.
Catron would be tested again less than a minute after Alconchel's goal, diving to his left to stop a shot from the top corner of the box by Busato. Alconchel had another header attempt from 10 yards in the 42nd minute, but Catron was in place to stop the shot.
Pedro Concheso would have the 17th shot attempt of the half for the Pioneers, but his blast from inside the box was batted over the frame by Catron. Tusculum thought it had gone up 3-0 on the ensuing corner kick, but the Pioneers were flagged for offsides.
Alconchel, who volleyed a shot off the crossbar in the 53rd minute, would get his second of the night at 53:32 as he took a perfect through pass from Michele Di Miele and beat Catron to the far side to extend Tusculum's lead to 3-0.
Less than six minutes later, Alconchel would complete the hat trick as he headed home a cross from Concheso to extend the Pioneer lead to 4-0 at 59:01. Busato would tack on his second goal of the season at 68:42 as he was fouled in the box and converted the penalty past Catron.
De La Fuente would add his goals in a span of four minutes, scoring off the right side at 75:19, going high on a partial breakaway at 78:30 off an assist by Matt Joki, and playing a loose ball in from close range at 79:19.
De Freitas made four saves in goal for the Pioneers before giving way to Nicolas Leite for the final 27 minutes. For Emory & Henry, Scott had three saves in 38 minutes and Catron made five stops in the final 52 minutes, allowing seven goals.
The Pioneers will host Newberry on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 4:30 p.m. at Pioneer Field. The Wolves are in ninth place in the SAC standings at 2-3-2 in the league and are 4-5-2 overall, coming off a 1-0 non-conference win over Shaw on Saturday.
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