DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. ? Sophomore Joe Yoffe extended his scoring streak to three matches with a four-goal performance in Embry-Riddle's 4-1 win over conference foe Northwood (2-1-1, 0-1-1) in men's soccer action on Tuesday. Yoffe, who scored four goals in the first meeting between the schools in 2005, scored twice in each period as the seventh-ranked Eagles' improved to 3-0 on the season and 1-0 in the Florida Sun Conference.
The Eagles' first goal came just four minutes into the match, and was the result of a series of one-touch passes starting from the midfield. Yoffe and Daniel Whelan traded passes a couple of times leading to Yoffe controlling the ball at the top of the penalty box. After completing a square pass to Jimmie Berry, Yoffe got the ball back at point blank range and beat FSC Player of the Week Lars Lundgren (5 saves) low to put the Eagles up 1-0.
Yoffe made the most of a second chance opportunity with 18 minutes remaining in the first half. Peter Masters slipped a shot past Lundgren that skidded off the far post, but the ball bounced back into play allowing Yoffe to run on to it and net his second goal of the day.
Northwood got a goal back early in the second half when Jacob Reuthammer got in behind the Eagles' defense and slotted the ball past Eagle keeper Viktor Bergstrand to make the score 2-1.
In the 59th minute, Yoffe controlled a ball played over the top by Liam McIlhatton, dribbled around two Seahawk defenders and lifted the ball into the upper netting to increase the Eagle advantage to 3-1.
Whelan and Yoffe combined for the Eagles' fourth goal in the 78th minute. Whelan won a battle in the middle of the park, dribbled up the field and found Yoffe who converted his team-high seventh goal of the year to seal the win.
“Overall, I was very pleased with today's performance,” head coach David Gregson said. “The first 20 minutes was about as good as you could expect for being the third game of the season. I think we're still trying to find our game legs, but we'll continue to improve the pace of our game over the next few weeks.”
The Eagles face perhaps their toughest challenge of the season this weekend when they take a two-game road trip to Ohio. The Blue and Gold will face No. 22 Mobile at 7 p.m. on Friday before taking on host and second-ranked Rio Grande at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
