Coming off crucial wins over Menlo and Westmont, The Master's University showed no signs of slowing down Thursday when Hope International came calling.
Sparked by a diverse offense and an excellent defensive performance, the Mustangs thrived in a 5-2 victory over the Royals.
Five different Mustangs scored.
Trevor Mangan tallied a goal and a career-high three assists.
"It was a solid victory overall and we did what we needed to do," said TMU head coach
Jim Rickard. "Hope is a good team with good players which has had some tough results. I'm glad to get this win past us."
The win did more than satisfy Rickard and the Mustangs.
It vaulted the Mustangs (12-4 overall, 4-2 GSAC) into a second-place tie with Vanguard (both with 12 points) with the hope of climbing higher and, hopefully, securing a first-round bye in the conference tournament that starts the first Saturday of November.
"I was proud of the fact that we had five different people score," added Rickard. "And, they were accompanied with quality assists."
Three of those five to score did so in a first-half flurry that produced a 3-0 halftime lead.
In the 11
th minute, junior midfielder
Dylan Bielanski initiated the scoring, taking a pass on the right side from Mangan and left-footing it past Royal goalie Fabian Caldera.
It was Bielanski's sixth goal of the season.
Less than 13 minutes later, Mangan was in a giving mood again, finding
Benji Tembo, who then beat Caldera again.
The All-American's seventh goal of his senior year gave the Mustangs a 2-0 lead.
The Mustangs capped one of their most productive 45-minute halves of play this season when junior
Tyler Grassi notched his first goal with 2:50 left before intermission.
He scored from six yards out on assists from
Brayden Campos and
Leo Anjos.
"We showed a lot of composure on offense today," said Rickard. "Luis (Garcia Sosa) and Benji were really in sync."
TMU's first-half dominance showed in an 8-1 shot advantage.
There was more of that in the second half and more scoring, too.
After playing the facilitator in the first half, Mangan took on the scoring mantle in the opening minutes of the second stanza, scoring his team-high ninth goal of the season at the 52:50 mark.
This one came from his head and extended the advantage to 4-0. Garcia Sosa and freshman
Kellen Dresdow assisted on the goal.
After blanking the Royals for over 54 minutes, the Mustangs finally surrendered a goal on Javier Loya's free kick from the far left corner of the box.
Not wanting to give the Royals any hope, the Mustangs responded at the 63:13 mark and Mangan played passer again.
This time he connected with
Jonathan Brown and the senior midfielder found the net from 10 yards out with his second score of the year.
Mangan's five points gives him a team-high 27.
The Royals answered back just over two minutes later with a goal that did nothing to affect the outcome.
The Mustangs wound up with a whopping 20-4 shot advantage.
Thursday's match came on the heels of a five-day layoff and now the Mustangs will be off until next Wednesday when they host San Diego Christian.
