CHESTERTOWN, Md. – On the strength of an early hat trick from senior
Patrick Santini (Cos Cob, Conn./Greenwich), the Gettysburg College men's soccer team won its Centennial Conference (CC) opener, earning a 3-0 road victory at Washington College Saturday evening.
Santini drilled in three goals over the game's opening 16 minutes as he racked up his second career hat trick while continuing his sizzling start.
The Bullets, ranked 21st in the season's opening D3soccer.com Top-25, are now 5-0 for the first time since 1998 after capturing their CC opener for the fifth year in a row.
Sophomore
Thomas Keane (Potomac, Md./Gonzaga College) made four saves to lead a defense that has posted a shutout in each of its last two matches. It was the first shutout of the season for Keane and the fourth of his career.
Santini has now scored eight goals on the season – one more than his career-high set during each of the past two years. He has also scored in six consecutive matches dating back to last year's season finale, when he netted his first career hat trick in a 5-1 victory at McDaniel. He is the first Bullet to score in six straight games since
Kyle DeBlois '12 achieved the feat during the last six regular-season matches in 2008.
With his three goals, Santini also broke into a pair of Gettysburg's all-time top-10 lists. He now ranks ninth in school history in career goals (25) and is 10th in points (62).
Santini wasted little time putting the Bullets on the scoreboard. In the sixth minute, he accepted a long cross from senior
Justin Wigley (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) and headed home his first tally of the game.
In the 13th minute, Santini beat a defender on a breakaway, then slipped a shot around the goalie who had rushed out to meet him. He completed the hat trick less than four minutes later, winning a ball off a defensive clearance before booting it into the left side of the net.
With the goal, Santini became the first Bullet to register multiple career hat tricks since
Chris Pryor '00 netted his third in a victory over Washington in 1999.
Gettysburg outshot the Shoremen 6-4 in the opening half, but that's when Keane made all of his saves.
Each side took three shots in the second half, but neither team managed to place one on goal.
The Bullets return home on Wednesday, when they take on Lebanon Valley in a non-conference tilt starting at 7 p.m.
