Comet men win 5th straight in dominating fashion

Five Comets scored and two keepers split a clean sheet as the Western Iowa Tech men's soccer team routed Minnesota West 8-0 on Wednesday evening for WIT's fifth win in a row.

Aran Vivar Hernandez scored a natural hat trick by notching the first three goals of the game in the span of 13 first-half minutes.

Jaime Perez scored two late goals while Gabriel Avellan, Josh Banner and Ben Shields also scored for the Comets, who are now 6-2-1.

"Definitely happy to bag so many goals, and have some other guys step in the final third in front of goal," head coach Alex Scheuler said. "We had several folks involved in goal contributions, so that's always a good thing."

Perez assisted on goals by Avellan (25'), Banner (30') and Shields (75'). Banner assisted on Shields' goal and Perez' second (90').

Hernandez' goals were assisted by Shields (11'), Joao Triguerio (18') and Matias Garcia Castil (24').

Perez' first goal was unassisted (82').

Aimar Aramendia and Sofienne Hammami each played a half and made one save in the combined shutout. It was the fifth clean sheet of WIT's six wins.

While Scheuler said there are always "freshman moments" from which to learn, Wednesday's performance was an indication the team is headed in the right direction as highly competitive ICCAC play approaches.

"We finally, clearly, put away a team before halftime in a match," Scheuler said. "A positive step forward in every way."

The Comets host Scott Community College at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday at Ruegger Field. The opening of conference play will be celebrated with a black out. All fans in attendance are encouraged to wear black attire to match the team's all-black uniforms.