SAN ANTONIO – The 25th-ranked Tiger men's soccer team earned a 4-0 shutout victory over Austin College on Sunday afternoon, finishing off a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference home stand over the weekend.

Trinity moves to 8-1-2 overall and 3-1-0 in SCAC play with the victory, which completes a 2-0 weekend after Friday's 3-0 decision over the University of Dallas. Austin College fell to 7-4-0 overall and took its first conference loss of the year to drop to 2-1-0.

The Tigers scored twice in each half to take the victory and held Austin College without a shot over the full 90 minutes of action. Trinity had 17 shots on goal among its 34 total attempts, and also held a decisive 17-1 advantage in corner kicks. Austin College played a man down over the final 38+ minutes after a player received a second yellow early in the second half.

Michael Meese (Williamsburg, Va. / Jamestown) scored the eventual game-winner in the 28th minute of play, while Adam Knutson (Dripping Springs, Texas / Dripping Springs) distributed a pair of assists in the first half. Knutson assisted Jack Downes (Sheffield, England / Queen Ethelburgas) on the second goal of the day, less than 10 minutes after the first.

Hunter Cain (Katy, Texas / Cinco Ranch) scored with just under 20 minutes left in the game to put the game out of reach, then Luke Chandler (Glasgow, Scotland / Balfron) put the finishing touches on the contest with his first career goal in the 88th minute. Chen Adjei (Euless, Texas / Trinity) picked up the assist on the goal by Cain, while Zach Anderson (Davis, Calif. / Davis) was awarded the assist on the game's final score.

The Rundown

Trinity was on the attack early with several on-target shots in the opening minutes of the first half, but it wasn't until the 28th minute that the Tigers found the back of the net. The play started when Austin College held off a Trinity attack with the goalkeeper scooping up a loose ball. After trying to play out of the defensive half slowly, Knutson took the ball away from a defender and sprinted towards the box. As he reached the end line, his pass back to the center went through two defenders and around the goalkeeper. Meese stepped in front of a pair of defenders at the last moment, then buried the ball for a 1-0 Trinity lead.

Less than 10 minute later, Meese and Knutson were leading another attack at the edge of the box when Knutson was surrounded by three defenders. They stopped his initial attempt to get the ball into the box for a teammate, but the relentless Knutson continued to fight to regain control. He finally managed to slip the ball into Downes who carried it the rest of the way, slotting in his shot just inside the far post for a 2-0 Tiger advantage. That lead held the final eight-plus minutes until the half.

Trinity remained on the offensive as the second half got underway, hammering away with six shots less than 12 minutes into the period – five of which were on target. Despite the pressure and despite losing a player to a red card with nearly 39 minutes remaining, Austin College held the Tigers off the scoreboard in the second half until the final 20 minutes.

Adjei initially attempted to beat two defenders just inside the box, but lost the ball.  As it turns out, he wasn't going to stand for that and chased down the defender to steal the ball right back. Adjei then split the same two defenders that just took the ball from him and drew the goalkeeper out. Adjei's cross back across the goal slipped past both Meese and Knutson before Cain found the end of it and deflected it into the empty goal for the score.

As the game came to a close, Anderson lined up a corner kick from the left side of the field. His initial attempt found Hunter Aronson (Palo Alto, Calif. / Palo Alto), who dribbled out of the box and sent the ball back out to Anderson to try for another cross. Anderson's pass deflected off an Austin defender and landed at the top of the six-yard box for Chandler, who slammed it home for the final score.

Up Next

Trinity continues SCAC action next weekend, traveling to Kerrville, Texas, to take on Schreiner University on Saturday, October 14, at 1:00 p.m.