St. Bonifacius, Minn. – The Crown men's soccer team and new head coach Thomás Pazo earned their first win of the season on Wednesday night, defeating the visiting Martin Luther College Knights by a score of 5-3. The Storm jumped out to an early 3-0 lead and held off the Knights with two more second half goals.
Freshman Tim Jaeger was the key man for the Storm, recording two goals and two assists on the night, leading the way as Crown secured their first three points of the season.
Another freshman, Eli Salisbury, opened the scoring with an impressive strike on his weaker left foot that caromed in off the post in the eleventh minute.
The Storm doubled their lead less than three minutes later when Jaeger ran through the middle of the MLC defense and played Josh Cannon in on goal. The sophomore striker went for power, blasting his shot past the Knight's keeper to stake Crown to a 2-0 lead.
An incredible first half got even better as another freshman, Yanik Wherli scored his first collegiate goal, again on an assist from Jaeger, to put Crown up 3-0 in the 37th minute.
Anyone who has spent any time around the UMAC knows that Martin Luther doesn't fold under adversity, and the Knights struck back just before half-time, capitalizing with a Lucas Martin goal just before the break.
The Knights scored again, just over five minutes into the second half to close the gap to a single goal with almost 40 minutes left to play.
Tim Jaeger then went from provider to goal scorer, netting twice in just more than two minutes at the 68 minute mark and in the 70th minute to push the lead back to three at 5-2.
The Knights would grab a late goal in the 87th minute, again through Martin, but couldn't close the gap further as the Crown bench gave coach Pazo a deserved dousing with the water jug at the final whistle.
Crown was extremely efficient, scoring five goals on just eight shots, while mostly limiting the Knight's chances over 24 attempts. Seven of Crown's eight shots were on target.
Foster Browning had nine saves and was aided once by freshman Ivan Celedon with a goal line clearance.
Crown will look to build on this momentum when they host Bethany Lutheran in another UMAC matchup this Saturday at 5 p.m.
