ALISO VIEJO, CA- The Soka University Lions defeated the Firebirds of University of Saint Katherine 7-1 on Saturday afternoon at the Lion's Den Soccer Stadium.
 
All seven of the of the Lions' goals were scored in the first 33 minutes of the match, beginning with Johannes Hielscher's worldie of a strike two and half minutes into play. Soka's winger Aidan Gross dropped his pass back to Hielscher outside of the 18-yard box, and Hielscher blasted his shot high and into the near post for the early 1-0 advantage.
 
Three minutes later, Glen McKay connected with Harrison Mirolla inside the six, and Mirolla placed his shot low and into the near post, putting the Lions ahead by two goals six minutes into the match.
 
Saint Katherine's Jairo Gonzales answered back one minute later, finishing his shot high, and into the back post, putting the Firebirds on the scoreboard and cutting Soka's lead in half.
 
Ten minutes later, Yauri De Groot's solo work on the ball led to his fifth goal of the season, and the Lions' third goal of the match. He beat two defenders on the dribble, and buried his shot high, into the upper-90 of the back post.
 
Gerardo De La Torre followed up shortly after with back-to-back goals within a four minute time-span. De La Torre's first goal stemmed from a bending service behind the defense from Carter Johnson. De La Torre slid, hooked his shot low, and into the back post. His second goal developed from another a through ball, this one from Gross. Gross received a pass from Johnson on the right flank after a Lions' transition. Gross bent his service to De La Torre in stride, who touched the ball to his right, and slotted his shot low, and into the near post, giving the Lions the 5-1 lead.
 
Not to be outdone, Mirolla netted two more goals before half-time, completing the hat trick, and bringing the final score to 7-1.  
"I thought the guys put together a professional performance today," said head coach Ian Eggleston. "It's always nice to get a win, but we mostly wanted to bounce back from Thursday's match, and keep training some good habits as we move into our conference games next week. I thought Saint Katherine came out strong, and asked us some questions for the first part of the game. However, we were so efficient with our chances that the game was out of reach by halftime. I know the Saint Katherine coach well, and I think he's going to do great things for their program over the next few years. The second half was about all of our guys getting minutes under their belts, solidifying some of the habits that we're still building upon, and trying to finish the game with no new injuries. Now, it's all about the recovery process and preparing for our first two conference games up in Northern California next weekend."
 
The Lions hit the road, and open up California Pacific Conference play in Vallejo, CA, where they face the Keelhaulers of Cal Maritime. Kick off if set for 7:30 p.m. 
 
 
 



Notes: This is the fifth meeting between the Lions and the Firebirds… Soka's overall record against Saint Katherine is now 4-0-1… The Lions outshot the Firebirds 17-11… Soka's Riley Grosso made five saves on the day… This was Harrison Mirolla's first career hat trick for the Lions.