Irvine, CA- Menlo Men's Soccer wrapped up their weekend road trip to southern California with their third win in a row against the Hope International Royals. It was another wire to wire victory for the Oaks who would strike first roughly 15 minutes into the game and would never relinquish the lead. Over their last three matches Menlo's offense has hit its stride with the team scoring 14 goals and only conceding three. With only one game remaining in conference play the Oaks will look to secure a first round bye for the coming conference tournament.
Offense Continuing to Roll
Early in the season the Oaks defense led the way for the team only conceding three goals across the first six games of the season. Now the offense has begun to ramp up with another three goals scored today. Ryan Branigan would get things going with the first score of the game off a Levin Ledergerber assist. This would be Branigan's first goal of the year and Ledergerber's team high fourth assist. Ledergerber would also add to his goal total this year scoring on a penalty kick at the 29:45 mark. Lastly, Antonio Jimenez continues to make an impact in his lone year with the Oaks as his goal at 73:16, off an assist from Roy Rosenberg, effectively clinched a win for Menlo. Despite only taking seven shots, Menlo was highly efficient on the day with six of said shots being on goal.
Defense Holds Firm
While the offense for coach Lambert's squad looked sharp today the defense stood up to a challenge from the Royals. While they did allow one score the backline and goalkeeper Jo Krumsvik were once again dialed in. HIU would take 20 shots, 12 of which were on goal yet Krumsvik was up to the challenge posting a game high 11 saves. Hope would also get 12 corner kicks for the match which generally leads to high quality scoring opportunities. Despite this the Oaks never gave the Royals much momentum to mount a comeback.
Up Next…
The Oaks control both first place and their own destiny with their final conference matchup against the Jessup Warriors. Both teams faced off earlier this season for a non conference meeting that resulted in a 2-2 tie thanks to a late goal by Axel Valle to tie the match in the closing minutes. With a three match win streak and a chance to go undefeated in the regular season on the line, Menlo Men's Soccer is going to be focused in on putting the exclamation mark on an outstanding regular season.
