Box Score by Kevin Buczek
WILSON, N.C.-Eleven Bulldogs registered shot attempts as the No. 5 Southeast Region ranked Barton College men's soccer team delighted a large Family Weekend crowd to a convincing 4-0 Conference Carolinas victory over North Greenville University Saturday night.
Barton (5-1 Overall, 1-0 Conf.) outshot North Greenville (0-5, 0-2) by a dominating 21-6 margin. The Bulldogs have won three straight matches and are a perfect 3-0 at home.
Seniors Erik Pajunk and Dante De Luca – both reigning All-Region honorees from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – provided Barton with plenty of offense early in a quality triumph that consisted of good play throughout its lineup.
Pajunk put the Bulldogs on the board just 2:04 into play when he stole the ball, made a strong run towards the goal and then executed an accurate shot in a 1v1 opportunity past NGU sophomore goalkeeper DJ Baker.
Pajunk has scored in three consecutive games… all wins.
De Luca doubled up the victor's advantage in the 26th minute on a give-and-go play with junior Marcus Strath. De Luca then netted his second tally of the contest after the halftime intermission that included an on-field thank you to all of the Bulldogs parents in attendance. De Luca ripped his second goal on a free kick in the 67th minute from about 25-yards out above the left side of the box. His attempted deflected off a North Greenville defender before finding the back of the net.
Pajunk and De Luca moved into a tie for the team-lead in goals scored with sophomore Alex David at four apiece.
Barton head coach Matt Akins was able to use his deep bench in the contest with nine reserves seeing minutes.
Sophomore Austin Tausch and freshman Danny Peru took advantage of their playing time in connecting for BC's final goal in the 74th minute. Peru received a pass from junior Kevin Strassburger and then dribbled past a NGU defender on the left sideline before cutting towards the goal just before the end line and then centering a crossing pass to Tausch at the doorstep of the goal. Tausch had no trouble cashing in the high probability shot for his second career goal.
The Bulldogs had several other good looks at scoring including three second-half attempts by junior defender Jovan Gracia and cracks by Peru and freshman Alex Whetstone that just missed their mark.
Baker denied attempts by Gracia, senior Nick Ahlquist, Strassburger and David for four saves.
Junior Derek Collins (2-0) picked up his second straight win in net and first career shutout protecting the Bulldogs net for all 90 minutes. Collins thwarted several Crusader chances by coming out of the cage to break up crossing passes before making his only save on a junior Thales Wieczorek strike in the 81st minutes.
Barton next visits UNC Pembroke on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
