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John Carroll University Athletics

home of the Blue Streaks
Hayden Haffner vs. CMU
Jose Figueroa
Hayden Haffner scored a hat trick for the first time in his career.
3
Winner John Carroll JCU (3-1-0, 0-0-0)
0
Wooster WOO (2-2-0, 0-0-0)
Winner
John Carroll JCU
(3-1-0, 0-0-0)
3
Final
0
Wooster WOO
(2-2-0, 0-0-0)
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
John Carroll JCU 1 2 3
Wooster WOO 0 0 0

Game Recap: Men's Soccer | | Gianluca DiGiacomo, Staff Writer

Haffner’s Hat Trick Propels Blue Streaks Past Fighting Scots

WOOSTER, Ohio – From Cale Dale Field on the campus of The College of Wooster, the Blue Streaks made the trip down south of University Heights to battle the Fighting Scots. After a win in the dying embers at Don Shula Stadium on Thursday, the team shifted their focus to their next targets. On a beautiful day for soccer from the grass pitch, it was bound to be a stellar day from the start.

From a historically holistic perspective, the Blue Streaks strived to conserve their undefeated streak over the home team dating back to September 2012. John Carroll has picked up the last four matches, including a resounding 4-1 win at Don Shula Stadium last season.

John Carroll kept the shape of lucrative goalscoring against Wooster intact with a 3-0 victory, courtesy of Hayden Haffner's hat trick performance off of the bench.

The Blue Streaks forced Wooster's back line under siege in the opening stages. Wingers Logan Penton and Dylan Halm linked up within the first five minutes to keep Wooster's defense on their toes.

The winger duo would link up once again in the 13th minute of play, with Halm grounding a shot into the keeper's grasp from the top of the box after some stellar buildup play. In the preliminary minutes, John Carroll already looked far more natural than they had in the first three games.

Despite not having a copious amount of good chances in front of goal, John Carroll still laid down the low in progression, with a considerable bout of time being played within their offensive third. All of the duress faced by Wooster, their defensive line held it down extremely well for much of the first half, the sophomore Ioannis Aristodemou playing exceptionally well against the attempts at linkup play from Izac Coleman and Logan Penton.

The Fighting Scots had a handful of scary looks, but nothing convincing for the Johannesburg, South African-born Dominc Grobler, who made his first career start as a Blue Streak as Brenden Moher continues to fight a knock picked up on Thursday.

Wenzler's Warriors finally broke the deadlock with just five minutes remaining in the half. A ball played down the left hand flank found an overlapping Izac Coleman. Coleman sent a grounded ball through the center. Although the first player in the center took a swing and a miss, Hayden Haffner received the ball, turned and finished through traffic after entering the game just ten minutes beforehand.

Not the prettiest of goals, but a goal nonetheless to open the bank account. Just a small portion of what we were about to get from the fifth-year midfielder.

The Blue Streaks sprinted through the finish line with a strong finish to the half. The coaching staff filled their talks with optimism and motivation to leave Carl Dale Field with a win.

The visitors picked up right where they left off for much of the second half, keeping the Scots under tremendous pressure and forcing the defense to bend, but not break. Similar to the first half, Wooster gave the Streaks some scares here and there, but nothing tangible to convert.

Interestingly enough through all of this, the Scots became more conservative in their offensive approach, shifting into more of a low block.

In defiance of the numbers Wooster was pulling back, John Carroll proceeded in their onslaught, creating danger before the team tacked on another.

With just over 15 minutes left to play, the Blue Streaks would earn a free kick off the left hand side of the pitch just outside of the box. Senior Nicholas Graeca whipped it in towards the near post and found the head of none other than Hayden Haffner once again. Haffner's connection with the ball sailed past the grasps of the keeper to double the advantage.

Haffner hammered the final nail in the coffin as a shot from distance deflected off of a defender, sending the keeper the wrong way as the ball trickled into the back of the net to put the icing on the cake.

The final 13 minutes included a flurry of yellow cards and the remaining energy on both sides as the final whistle blew with the Blue Streaks standing tall, the scoreboard displaying a 3-0 final.

Although he took things into his own hands on the goal-scoring frontier, Haffner still credits much of the win to the entire team unit. "I think every win is a team effort. Coming off of the bench today, I need to show some energy…when I had chances, I made sure to finish them. One team win, one at a time."

"The players had a very professional performance from the moment they walked off the bus until the final whistle blew," Head Coach Mladenovic added. "We didn't have our fastball but I think they managed the game brilliantly from start to finish. It was an excellent result."

The Blue Streaks will have a much-deserved rest in the middle of the week before they play in the first ever Cleveland Classic over the weekend, taking on Stockton University on Friday night, followed up by Trine University on Sunday afternoon for McCarthy Weekend. The team advances to 3-1 on the year with six goals across the first four contests.
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