AMERICUS – GSW senior forward Thiago Elias scored a hat trick to lead the Georgia Southwestern State University Men’s Soccer Team to an 8-1 thrashing of non-conference opponent Shaw University on Wednesday, October 3, at Hurricane Field.

“It feels really good to get this win after five straight losses,” Elias said. “I’m so happy to help my team win by scoring three goals. This gives us a boost. We need to go hard every game, whether it’s a conference game or a non-conference game.”

With the win, GSW improves to 3-6-1 overall and 0-2 in the Peach Belt Conference. Shaw University, out of Raleigh, NC, falls to 3-5-1 overall.

Early in the match, the Hurricanes began to exert pressure on the Bears’ back line, allowing them to create chances to score. Elias scored his first goal 15 minutes into the first half to give GSW a 1-0 lead. A couple of minutes later, junior midfielder Pedro Chung scored to put the Hurricanes up 2-0. Then with 17:40 to go in the first half, Elias scored the second of his three goals when he sent a shot towards the upper part of the goal. The ball sailed just over the hands of the Shaw goalkeeper and into the net for a 3-0 GSW lead.

The Hurricanes were not finished as Junior forward Dylan Marshall took a shot that went into the left corner of the net with 5:07 to go in the half.  Shortly before halftime, GSW goalkeeper Matthew Sherry responded to a shot on goal by a Shaw player by making a diving, one-fisted save and knocking the ball away. The Hurricanes had a comfortable 4-0 lead at halftime.

The Bears began to show some life early in the second half. With a little less than five minutes into the second half, sophomore midfielder Marc Almazor scored to put the Bears on the board. That goal seemed to get the Hurricanes refocused. With 30:43 to go in the game, the Bears were whistled for a foul just outside the 18-yard box. Elias took the free kick. It sailed into the back of the net for his third goal of the game, making the score 5-1 in favor of the Hurricanes.

That goal inspired the Hurricanes as they got another goal almost four minutes later. Senior forward Matheus Alves scored on a header off a cross from senior forward Jonathan Sayers to give GSW a 6-1 lead. About a minute later, the duo hooked up again as Sayers sent in a cross to Alves, who headed the ball into the back of the net for his second goal of the game.

The Hurricanes were whistled for a foul inside their own 18-yard box. This resulted in a penalty kick for Shaw. However, the kick was saved by Matthew Sherry. Then with 7:35 left in the match, Dylan Marshall scored his second goal of the game on a header off a cross from freshman midfielder Aystin Martinez. The Hurricanes went on to win 8-1.

For Head Coach Warren Russ and his team, it was a welcomed result after losing five-straight hard-fought matches. They grabbed the momentum early by scoring goals early and were able to put the game away. “It’s funny, when you score goals early, that’s what happens,” Russ said. “I’m not sure we can count on scoring eight goals every match, but we’ve worked so hard the last few weeks and couldn’t get good results. We now have to get focused on USC Aiken on Saturday. That’s a conference game.”

The Hurricanes, who are winless in the Peach Belt Conference (0-2), do indeed host PBC opponent USC Aiken on Saturday, October 6, at 7 p.m. The Pacers are 2-4 overall and are also winless in the PBC at 0-2.