(LA MIRADA, Calif.)
Elijah Langford scored a first half hat trick to lead No. 11 PLNU Men's Soccer to a 5-0 rout of Biola on Wednesday night in PacWest play.
Langford opened the scoring in the 23rd, getting on the end of
Shawn O'Brien's long switch ball to smash home with his left foot.
He then doubled PLNU's lead with his second of the game 10 minutes later, intercepting a Biola pass and curling a left-footed shot up and over the goalie
Emmett Layman later made it 3-0 in favor of the visitors in the 36th minute.
Inaki Santamarina sprayed a ball out wide to
Zion Yeboah, who played it to Layman to touch onto his right foot and finish from the top of the box.
Langford then completed his hat trick with just three seconds left in the first half, taking a
Niko Kaczmarczyk pass into space and finishing with his left foot into the far side netting.
Langford, who now leads the team with nine goals on the season, becomes the second Sea Lion in the program's NCAA era to score three goals in the first half of a game. He joins teammate
Cole Friesen who accomplished the feat on Sep. 23 at Azusa Pacific.
Zack Mercieca rounded out the scoring in the 76th minute, latching onto
Diego Chavez's ball over-the-top before calmly slotting past the goalkeeper.
PLNU outshot BU 9-2 in shots on goal, as goalkeeper
Jeremy Caringella kept his fourth shutout of the season.
Point Loma (7-2-1 overall, 3-0 PacWest) returns home on Saturday to host Vanguard. Kickoff on the PLNU Soccer Field is scheduled for 2:15 p.m.
