Box Score

WESTMINSTER, Md. – Junior Patrick Santini (Cos Cob, Conn./Greenwich) scored his first career hat trick and the Gettysburg College men's soccer team took care of business in its season finale with a 5-1 win at McDaniel College Saturday afternoon.
 
Gettysburg (9-4-3, 4-3-2 CC) did all it could on the final day of the regular season, but the Bullets just missed a spot in the Centennial Conference playoffs as Dickinson College upset No. 2 Franklin & Marshall College 2-1 on Saturday. The Red Devils out-pointed the Bullets 16-14 to grab the fifth and final playoff spot.
 
Gettysburg jumped onto the scoreboard early as freshman Precious Ozoh (Abuja, Nigeria/Holderness School (N.H.)) followed a deflection off a corner kick with his second goal of the season in the fifth minute.
 
Senior Henry Smith (Westfield, N.J./Westfield) put the finishing touches on an outstanding campaign by netting his Centennial-leading 11th goal on a penalty kick in the 24th minute. Freshman Thomas Keane (Potomac, Md./Gonzaga College) posted Gettysburg's lone save on a shot by Philip Bonsu in the 44th minute to preserve the 2-0 lead going into the break.
 
Santini began his offensive explosion in the opening two minutes of the final period, blasting a shot from the top of the box into the cage. After McDaniel (5-9-3, 0-7-2 CC) closed the gap to 3-1 on a goal by Greysen Brockbank in the 60th minute, Santini made it a three-goal lead for the visitors with a shot from the corner of the box in the 66th minute.
 
Santini completed the first hat trick by a Bullet in five years with some help from Smith in the 82nd minute. Smith sent a cross into the box and Santini booted the ball home for his sixth goal of the season. It was Gettysburg's first hat trick in men's soccer since Eric Hynes '12 posted three goals against Washington on Sept. 24, 2011.
 
The assist was Smith's fifth, tying him with Santini for the team-lead and giving him a conference-best 27 points on the year. Smith's point total was the best by a Bullet since Chris Bayon '09 tallied the same count in 2007. He finished seventh, eighth, and 10th on the program's career lists for assists (20), points (68), and goals (24), respectively.
 
Gettysburg finished with a 19-8 edge in shots, while McDaniel led in corners 6-5.