A Hat Trick, And A Dominant Win

Sunday, August 19

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

1:00 p.m. ET

Central Michigan University

1-1

Southern Utah

0-2

Southern Utah

Central Michigan

8/19/2018 5:21:00 PM | Soccer

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Pelafas notches third-career hat trick as Chippewas capture first victory

By: Andy Sneddon

Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Lexi Pelafas made some more history, and it was a first for the Central Michigan soccer team and sophomore goalkeeper Morgan Britain.

Pelafas scored three goals for her third career hat trick on Sunday as the Central Michigan soccer team dominated Southern Utah, 4-1, at the CMU Soccer Stadium. It was the first win of the season for the Chippewas (1-1), who rebounded from a 3-1 loss at 14^th-ranked Notre Dame in their season opener on Thursday.

It was the first career victory for Britain, who made three saves and earned a game ball from coach Peter McGahey.

The Chippewas also presented a game ball to new university President Robert O. Davies, who was on hand to watch the victory.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Chippewas applied the pressure from the opening kick and never let up, finishing with a 23-9 advantage in shots.

"We put Thursday night behind us and I thought we competed really well today and took care of the game today which was really important," McGahey said. "I thought today the team played in the present. They didn't try to play Notre Dame again. I thought they did a good job of playing Southern Utah today.

"Certainly (we) came out flying right away in the first half, pushing our identity into the game and I think we maintained that through the game and in the second half even raised it a little bit."

PELAFAS' PROWESS
Pelafas, a senior who entered the season atop CMU's all-time scoring list with 33 goals, scored twice in the first half and notched her third goal less than four minutes into the second. Two of her goals came off of corner kicks – the first a header, the second a tap-in from a scrum at the goal line – and the third on a one-on-one opportunity from 8 yards out.

"What a tremendous performance to score three goals three different ways … that speaks to Lexi's goal-scoring prowess," McGahey said. "For me the piece for today as a whole including Lexi (was) really good commitment to the team defensively, really good commitment from everybody to be pushing through the mistakes and the quality of service we got on our goals today was outstanding. That's teammates that trust each other and believe in each other."

It was the sixth hat trick in CMU history. Pelafas has three of those (two came last season). No other Chippewa has more than one.

IN THE ACT
Shannon Magnan also scored for CMU and finished with two assists, as did Maria Kaschalk. Madison Costner also had an assist. The assists were the first in her career for Kaschalk, a sophomore.

BOUNCE BACK
After surrendering three goals at Notre Dame in her first career start, Britain rebounded with a solid effort in posting the victory in goal.

"Her first collegiate win," McGahey said. "They're all hard and I think her teammates did a really good job of earning that for her today. Hats off to her. I thought she did a good job of managing the game. I'm sure there's some things that's she's going to want to polish and clean up a little bit. She did a really good today. I was really proud of her."

NEXT
The Chippewas play at Detroit Mercy on Sunday, Aug. 26 (4 p.m.). The Titans dropped their season opener on Friday at Western Michigan, 3-0.