NORTON, Mass. – Senior forward Alasdair Ferrier (Concord, N.H.) tallied his first collegiate hat trick to lead the Wheaton College (Mass.) men's soccer team in a 5-0 rout over No. 11 United States Coast Guard Academy this afternoon in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference play at Keefe Field on the campus of Wheaton in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons improve to 5-3-2 overall after their second win over a top-12 team this season and are also 1-0-1 in league play, while the Bears, who are ranked in the most recent United Soccer Coaches national poll, suffer their first loss of the season and slip to 7-1-1 and 1-1-0.
The match featured the first markers scored between the teams since 2021 following 0-0 shutouts in back-to-back years. All five of Wheaton's goals came in the second half and after the 60th minute of play during a stanza that saw the Lyons out-shoot their guests, 15-3. Wheaton owned a 19-5 shot advantage for the contest with Coast Guard managing just one shot on frame for the afternoon. The Bears boasted a 5-3 margin in corner kicks.
Ferrier's hat trick was the second for a Wheaton player this season, joining classmate Ryan Bell's (Berwyn, Pa.) effort earlier this season against Saint Joseph's College (Maine) on September 1. It marks the first time since 2017, when Amara Sesay collected three hat tricks, that the program has had more than one hat trick in the same season. Ferrier also becomes the first player in school history to score three or more goals against a ranked opponent.
The teams were scoreless through the first 59-plus minutes of play after a first half that saw the Lyons double up on Coast Guard with a 4-2 shot count.
Ferrier changed that with 30:21 left in the match when he lined up a free kick from just outside the box that he fired over the Bear wall and into the upper left corner of the net to put Wheaton on the board in the 60th minute. Ferrier struck again less than 10 minutes later to give the Lyons a 2-0 margin after converting a penalty kick into the right side of the net in the 70th minute.
The momentum continued to build for Wheaton with its third goal in a span of 13 minutes to give them a formidable 3-0 lead with 17:24 left in the match. Junior midfielder Joey Everett (Danbury, Conn.) lifted a corner kick on a line to the right post, where sophomore back Owen Kane (Pembroke, Mass.) was there with a header just inside the post for his first collegiate marker.
The Lyons added a pair of insurance goals in the final three minutes of play to leave no doubt of the outcome. First year forward Gael Vera (Westminster, Mass.) one-timed a high-arcing cross from just over midfield to the box, where Ferrier gathered the ball, took three dribbles toward the net, before uncorking a shot into the far left post for his team-leading seventh goal of the season with 2:57 to go in the game. Wheaton did not let up as Vera gained possession of the ball on an interception just over midfield, dribbled into the box through four defenders, juked his defender to the left, before bringing the ball back to his right foot for a shot that hit just under the crossbar in the top right corner and landed over the goal line for his second tally of the year with just 109 seconds remaining in the match.
Junior keeper Michael O'Gara (Ardmore, Pa.) turned away the only shot he faced to register his third shutout of the season and 13th of his career for the Lyons, while junior goalie John Putnam (Halfmoon, N.Y.) made five saves for Coast Guard. Senior midfielder Brennan King (Shepherdstown, W. Va.) attempted the only shot on goal for the Bears.
Wheaton returns to action on Wednesday, October 2 when it hosts Salem State University at 4:00 p.m. on Keefe Field, while the Bears host Western New England University on October 1 at 6:00 p.m.
