Alander Soares scored a pair of goals to help 13
th-ranked Gannon jump out to a 3-0 halftime advantage on its way to a 5-0 PSAC West victory over the Pitt-Johnstown men's soccer team, Saturday afternoon in Erie. The Mountain Cats slipped to 3-8-1 overall and 0-4-1 in the PSAC.
Gannon got off to a fast start and scored three first half goals on 18 shots. Back-to-back goals from Soares, both to the top right corner, in the 17
th and 38
th minutes gave the Golden Knights a 2-0 lead, before Shota Toyama finished an assist from Bautista Corti with just 33 seconds remaining to make it 3-0 at the break.
Per Kristian Lauvstad increased it to 4-0 with a goal 11 minutes into the second half, and RJ Benedict closed out the scoring in the 80th minute.
PJ Derksen took the loss for the Mountain Cats after allowing three goals on 18 shots in the opening half. Derksen made a pair of saves.
Jacob Tichnell played the final 45 minutes and saw 23 shots from the Golden Knights. Tichnell made seven saves and surrendered two goals.
Gannon goalkeeper Andre Moraes saw one shot from the Mountain Cats and made one save to earn the shutout and help the Golden Knights win their fifth straight match and improve to 9-2-2 overall and 3-0-2 in the PSAC West.
Pitt-Johnstown returns home to host a conference match against Lock Haven on Wednesday at 1 p.m. at Windber Stadium, before visiting Slippery Rock for a conference match on Saturday.