(PAINESVILLE, Ohio) — On an unseasonably warm Saturday afternoon at Jack Britt Memorial Stadium in Painesville, the Lake Erie men's soccer team defeated Kentucky Wesleyan by a score of 6-0. The victory moves the Storm to 5-2 on the season and into the driver's seat in the G-MAC playoff race, while the Panthers fall to 3-2-2 on the year.

The scoring came both early and often for Lake Erie, who saw their first goal come in the third minute off of the foot of freshman forward Henrique Santos, whose play was as red hot as the weather. Santos was the star of the show for the Storm in this one, amassing a total of seven points, thanks to a hat trick and an additional assist to boot. Santos scored his second goal in the 21st minute, then his third in the 61st minute. He was assisted by Ayden Von Essen on the first goal, Arthur Lucas on the second goal, and scored the third one unassisted.

But other members of the Storm wanted to get in on the act as well. In the 21st minute, sophomore forward Alex Saggese scored, assisted by Von Essen. Sophomore defender Fabian Kiessetz contributed a goal in the 58th minute, assisted by Santos. And then in the 82nd minute, the Storm added on once more, this time in the form of a goal by junior midfielder Saulo Calderon Alvarez. Gio Monteiro Da Costa picked up the assist on that one.

Of course, at the other end of the field, senior goalkeeper Tom John was stellar for the Storm, shutting out the Panthers, who only took eight total shots and only four that required saving. But John took care of his business as usual and prevented the Panthers from being able to gain some momentum and potentially finding a way back into the game.

Meanwhile, Lake Erie took a mighty 23 shots in the game, proving to seemingly always be in possession of the ball in Kentucky Wesleyan territory. They also had seven total corner kicks, compared to the Panthers' zero.

Each side had one yellow card each. For Lake Erie, it was given to sophomore midfielder Noah Elbana in the 35th minute. For Kentucky Wesleyan, midfielder Declan Sandifer took the hit in the 45th minute. But neither card had a tremendous impact on the outcome of this one.

With only two games left in their 2020-21 abridged, conference-only schedule, the Storm already find themselves in the home stretch of the regular season, less than a month after it began. First, they'll take to the road on Thursday, to face off with the talented Tiffin Dragons. Then, they'll come back home and wrap things up on Saturday, when Cedarville makes a trip to Painesville. Those games are set to take place at 4:00 p.m. EST and 3:00 p.m. EST, respectively.