ROBERTS WITH SECOND CAREER HAT TRICK; RADFORD ROLLS 4-0

Saturday, September 30

RADFORD

7:00 PM

Radford University

6-2-1 (2-0-0)

UNC Asheville

1-9-0 (0-2-0)

Team	1	2	Final F
UNC Asheville	0	0	0
Radford	3	1	4

Photo by: Radford Athletics Communications

ROBERTS WITH SECOND CAREER HAT TRICK; RADFORD ROLLS 4-0

9/30/2017 10:00:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

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MATCH INFORMATION

Score: Radford 4, UNC Asheville 0
Records: Highlanders (6-2-1, 2-0-0) | Bulldogs (1-9-0, 0-2-0)
Location: Cupp Stadium | Radford, Va.

RADFORD, Va. – In the last four matches, Radford has tallied 15 goals and a major part of that impressive feat has been the play of Kieran Roberts as the redshirt-junior tallied his second career hat trick in the Highlanders' 4-0 Big South home opening win over UNC Asheville.

During that span, Roberts has found the back of the net seven times on 12 shots on goal, totaling 11 on the season. The Bournemouth, England native is tied for the nation's lead in goals with Mamadou Guirassy of NJIT.

Radford scored four-plus goals for the fourth time on the season and the third match in a row. Joining Roberts in the goal scoring action was Sivert Daehlie as the duo has combined for 18 of Radford's 23 goals.

The Highlanders rattled off three of the goals in the first half as Roberts found net for the first two scores of the match. He opened the match in the seventh minute off a beautiful through ball off the boot of Fraser Colmer that found Evan Szklennik on the far side of the six-yard box. The first of a career best four assists by Szklennik found Roberts for the goal to near post.

Roberts' second goal came in the 30^th minute as Szklennik dribbled through traffic, finding Roberts on the left side of the six-yard box, firing a top spin shot to the top right corner.

Seven minutes later, Daehlie pushed the lead to three as Szklennik gained possession of the ball off a Bulldog turnover. Szklennik led a one-touch pass to Neil Martorana, who fed it right back to Szklennik. The senior sent a through ball to Daehlie, who finished the pass off to the middle of the net from in front of the six-yard box.

Roberts' capped off his career night in the 56^th minute as his shot attempt to the far-left post deflected in off a UNC Asheville defender as a Szklennik through ball set up the goal.

UNC Asheville took 10 shots, but managed only three on goal, all coming in the first half. The Bulldogs had three looks on goal in the first 22 minutes, but Nicolas Mertzokat came up the attempts for his third shutout on the season.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

With the hat trick, Kieran Roberts now has three multi-goal matches on the season. The three goals give him 21 in his career.
Roberts first hat trick came in a 6-1 win against Presbyterian on Sept. 27, 2014.
Scoring a goal for the sixth straight match, Sivert Daehlie moves within two goals of ninth all-time in program history with 25 career goals.
Collecting four assists, Evan Szklennik now has at least five assists on the season for the third straight year. His 21 career assists now rank fifth in program history.
Szklennik matched a program record with the four assists set by Dante Washington against Augusta on Oct. 15, 1988.
Neil Martorana picked up his fourth assist on the season and Fraser Colmer collected his third.
Colmer ranks just behind Szklennik in program history with 20 career assists.
Radford earned seven corners in the win, taking six shots on frame, scoring on four attempts.
The Highlanders held a 16-10 edge on shot attempts.
Nicolas Mertzokat now has 23 saves on the season for a .719 save percentage. Mertzokat and the Highlanders lowered their goals against average to 0.98 in the win.

QUOTABLE

"It helps to get the first goal early in the match. The team was sharp tonight in moving the ball and creating chances on goal. The backline along with our goalkeeper did a good job of staying locked in all night and the clean sheet was the result at the end." ~ Radford head coach Bryheem Hancock

UP NEXT

Radford will hit the road again as the begin October play at Presbyterian on the fourth for a 6 p.m., matchup.
A season ago, the two foes met twice in the season, both coming as overtime affairs. The first matchup on Oct. 8, 2016 saw a Roberts goal in overtime give Radford a 1-0 victory. In the Big South Tournament semifinals, Radford and Presbyterian went into penalty kicks locked at 1-1. The Highlanders advanced 4-2 on PKs.
In the all-time series, Radford holds a 34-11-4 edge.