CHICAGO, Ill. – The University of Chicago men's soccer team scored all four of its goals in the second half to defeat a short-handed Benedictine University squad 4-1 on Monday.

The Maroons improved to 2-0-0 and dropped the Eagles to 0-2-0.

Benedictine started the game with high energy and it paid dividends right away. Off a corner kick, Nick Kapetanos bounced a header over the goalkeeper in close to put the visitors ahead 1-0 five minutes in. UChicago struggled early on with connecting on offensive runs, but then started to click on their passes and possession midway through the first half.

The Maroons were given an additional boost when a Benedictine player was whistled for his second yellow card in the 29th minute. He was then ejected from the match and the Eagles were forced to play one man down the rest of the game. Despite the big swing in momentum, Benedictine maintained its 1-0 lead into halftime. UChicago held a 9-2 lead in shots at the time.

With the man advantage on their side, the Maroons pushed hard in the second half. They got on the scoreboard in the 50th minute when a goal-line clearance by Benedictine was knocked back into its own net, tying the game. Almost exactly 10 minutes later, senior midfielder Nic Lopez was taken down in the box and UChicago was awarded a penalty kick. Junior midfielder Jorge Bilbao stepped up to the line and smacked the ball past the diving goalkeeper to make the score 2-1.

The visitors hung around, however, and made several dangerous runs in the final 20 minutes looking for the equalizer. The Maroons then caught the Eagles in a counterattack in the 80th minute with sophomore midfielder Chris Mathis streaking up the right side. He found senior midfielder Michael Choquette in the middle of the attacking third, who then passed off to the left to forward Kyle Kurfirst. The senior captain ran onto the ball and booted it in from the left corner of the goalie box to go up 3-1.

Mathis closed out the scoring in the 87th minute when he collected a rebound off a cross into the box and tallied the goal.

The second-half onslaught gave UChicago a 21-6 advantage in shots and a 9-2 lead in corner kicks for the game. Junior goalkeeper Brett Wiesen (1-0-0) made one save with one goal allowed to get the victory. Play on the pitch was also chippy throughout, resulting in seven cards given out by the referee.

NEXT GAME:

• Tuesday, Sept. 2 – Knox College at UChicago, 4 PM