AVE MARIA, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle men's soccer team scored three times in the first half of play en route to a 5-1 win over Sun Conference newcomer Ave Maria on Saturday. The Eagles are now 11-3-2 on the year and are 6-0-2 in league, while the Gyrenes fall to 5-8 overall and 2-8 in the league.

The Eagles' first goal came in the fourth minute when Fredrik Elgstrom collected the ball in the Gyrenes' defensive third and after weaving his way through the AMU midfield and defense, he rifled a shot into the right corner to put the Blue and Gold up 1-0.

Embry-Riddle's next goal came less than two minutes later after Michael Donald was taken down inside the penalty area. Ryan Maloney converted on his second penalty kick in as many matches to increase the Embry-Riddle lead to 2-0.

Although they controlled the play for the remainder of the half, the Eagles were unable to find the back of the net again until the final minute of play when Matthias Klatt rocketed a free kick into the upper 90 to make the score 3-0 at the half.  

Effective team play led to the Eagles' fourth goal of the game in the 62nd minute. The play started in the Eagles' defensive third and a series of one-touch passes eventually found Luke Baker on the right side. Baker's first touch was cross into the box where Phil MIddleton was able to hit a left-footed blast into the left corner for his fifth goal of the year.

An own goal by Ave Maria gave the Eagles their fifth goal, but the Gyrenes managed to avoid the shutout when Miguel Vera finished a Christian Paz pass with just 30 seconds remaining in the match.

The Eagles close out the regular season at 7 p.m. on Friday when they host Webber International at the Embry-Riddle Soccer Stadium.