MISHAWAKA, Ind. — Piero Sabroso netted two goals and Alex Murillo had two assists for the NAIA third-ranked Bethel Pilots (7-0-2) in their high-scoring 5-1 win over the Saint Ambrose Fighting Bees (0-3-2) in the Pilots’ final non-conference match at Morey Field Thursday night.
The first-half possession was dominated by the Pilots outshooting the Fighting Bees by a massive 13-1 margin and Sabroso broke the scoreless streak in the 43rd minute from Miki Fujita.
The Fighting Bees tied the match 1-1 with Eli Elliott’s goal assisted by David Sanchez-Teba in the 55th minute, but Samuel Thomas scored his first goal of the season off Miguel Martins’s pass to take the lead 2-1.
Sabroso hit the Pilots’ third goal in the 67th minute off Alex Murillo’s assist to grow their lead and in the 79th minute to 3-1 and BU kept going with their fourth goal by Isaac Hernandez for his first of the season.
The final Bethel goal came from Julian Vargas Talamantes, assisted by Alex Murillo, to secure the Pilots’ fourth all-time win over Saint Ambrose (IA).
“Glad for the result and the number of guys we were able to work into the game today,” said head coach of the Pilots Thiago Pinto, “We now enter into a new cycle with league play [Crossroads League] next and it will be a very good challenge and opportunity for our team to grow another layer or two. We will get to work tomorrow and look forward to it [Spring Arbor].”
Sabroso is now up to nine goals for the season, while Benjamin Venegas earned his first career win with a good second-half performance. He only allowed one goal and ended the night with three saves.
NEXT TIME OUT
The Crossroads League season kicks off with the Spring Arbor Cougars on Wednesday, Sept. 25 at the Cougar Soccer Complex in Spring Arbor, Mich. at 7 p.m. The Cougars are 6-2 on the season with a record of 1-1 against NAIA Top 25 teams including a 2-1 loss to #22 Bethel (Tenn.) on Aug. 22 and a 3-2 win over #18 Lindsey Wilson on Aug. 24 in back-to-back ranked matches. SAU defeated the Aquinas Saints at home 4-0 on Sept. 18 and is due to play Judson (Ill.) on Sept. 21 before facing the #3 Pilots.