Box Score by Benny Benton
TIGERVILLE, S.C. – The Barton College men's soccer team won its fifth straight road match Saturday, cruising past host North Greenville University, 4-1.
Junior Erik Pajunk scored a goal and assisted two others for the Bulldogs, which have won five of their last six matches overall to even their season record at 6-6-1. Danilo Matos, Kevin Strassburger and Archer Bane also recorded goals, with Ricardo Oliveira chipping in an assist.
With the win, Barton improved to 4-2 in Conference Carolinas and moved into third place in the standings. North Greenville slipped to 3-8-1 overall and 1-4 in the league with the loss.
Barton took control of the match with three goals in a span of less than four minutes midway through the first half.
Matos opened the scoring for the Bulldogs in the 23rd minute, putting away a shot off an assist from Pajunk for his third goal of the year.
A minute and a half later, Kevin Strassburger gave Barton a 2-0 advantage with his third tally of the season.
Just 2:11 more ticked off before Bane increased the Bulldogs' advantage to 3-0 with his sixth strike of the year, this one coming off assists from Oliveira and Pajunk. The goal for Bane marked the third straight match against the Crusaders in which he scored. He also found the net in each of Barton's two 2012 wins over NGU.
Pajunk's two assists in Saturday's match give him nine for the year, which leads the conference. The assist for Oliveira was his second of the season.
The Crusaders cut the deficit to 3-1 in the 33rd minute when Ara Zadoorian scored on a penalty kick for his second goal of the year, and the margin remained that way until the 67th minute, when Pajunk tacked on an unassisted goal, his third of the season.
Barton was credited with eight shots, all on goal, and North Greenville was credited with four shots, all on goal as well. Bulldog keeper Vasily Yakimkin was attributed three saves. Freshman D.J. Baker, who played the second half and gave up one goal, was awarded four saves for the Crusaders.
The Bulldogs will seek a sixth straight road win on Tuesday when they visit Pfeiffer University for a 4 p.m. match. Barton's final Conference Carolinas match will be Saturday, when it hosts King University in a 3 p.m. contest as part of Homecoming Weekend.
