The Lancaster Bible College Men's Soccer team traveled to Gwynedd Valley, Pa. on Wednesday afternoon to take on Gwynedd Mercy, dominating in a 7-1 blowout victory for their second win of the season. The Chargers improve to 2-1-1 overall while the Griffins fall to 1-4 overall.
 
How it Happened:
The Chargers had two shots and a corner kick in the early minutes, but it was the Griffins that opened the scoring as they got a goal in the fifth minute to take the lead. This wouldn't last long as junior Dan Marcroft gathered a pass from senior Ben Nolt to punch in a goal and tie the score at 1-1 at the nine-minute mark. Less than three minutes later, the Chargers struck again as Marcroft hit junior Derek Rhine for a score, his first career goal, to put LBC up 2-1. Lancaster Bible wrapped up their barrage with a goal in the right corner by Nolt off an assist from senior Andrew Cox in the 14th minute, making it three goals in five minutes for the Chargers to take a 3-1 lead. The teams went back and forth for the remainder of the half as Gwynedd Mercy put several shots on goal and LBC had four more corner kicks, leaving it a 3-1 game at the half.
 
The Griffins came out with momentum in the second half with four corner kicks and six shots in the first ten minutes, involving three saves by freshman Micah Dressler as he came off a conference Defensive Player of the Week honor. The Chargers dialed up the offense in the final ten minutes, seeing four goals go in as the wheels fell off for Gwynedd Mercy. First, Cox dribbled through the defense for a score to make it 4-1 Chargers, then about two minutes later sophomore Moses Katembo gathered the ball in the box for his first score of the season. The next minute, Katembo connected with freshman AJ Mecke for his first career score, then another freshman in Emilio Mejia came up through the midfield and nailed a shot for a goal, ending the chaotic final minutes in a dominant 7-1 win for the Chargers.
 
By the Numbers:
- The Chargers outshot the Griffins with a season-high 30 shots, taking 10 corner kicks to the Griffins' four
- Dan Marcroft, Derek Rhine, and Ben Nolt had the LBC goals in the first half
- The Chargers' four second-half goals went in by Andrew Cox, Moses Katembo, AJ Mecke, and Emilio Mejia
- Micah Dressler made a season-high seven saves in goal
- C.J. Clyde had the lone goal for Gwynedd Mercy while Ethan Zimmerman made eight saves in goal for the Griffins
 
Information to Know:
The Chargers are now 4-2-1 all-time against Gwynedd Mercy and are unbeaten (4-0-1) in their last five games against the Griffins. Lancaster Bible is above the .500 mark (2-1-1) for the first time since October 28, 2023 at 9-8-2 after their playoff win against Penn St. Berks. This was the first time the Chargers scored seven goals in a game since October 27, 2022 when they beat Penn St. Altoona 8-0 at home and is the first time since 2013 that seven different players scored in the same game for the Chargers. Andrew Cox netted his 26th career goal tonight, tying him for 17th in Men's Soccer program history with Jude Nixon on the scoring list. Ben Nolt scored career goal #20 as well, making him the 28th player in program history to reach 20+ goals.
 
Up Next:
The Chargers will return to Lancaster, Pa. on Saturday, September 13 as they take on York (Pa.) at 4:00 p.m.