BOSTON - Derek Triana delivered a hat trick as part of eight first-half goals to lift the Regis (Mass.) men's soccer team to a resounding 11-1 New England Collegiate Conference win over Wheelock College Saturday evening at Winsor Field.
The win was the biggest for the Pride since 2014 when they won by the same score against the very same Wildcats. Regis remains just a point behind Daniel Webster for the top spot in the league with just one game to play. Each of the top four seeds are up for grabs heading into Saturday, the final day of regular season play.
Litchie Barbosa (Boston, Mass.) connected with Derek Triana (Port St. Lucie, Fla.) just a few seconds under two minutes in to spark the offense for the Pride. Then, Don Gomez (Lynn, Mass.) lifted the Regis score to 2 at 8:36 after accepting a cross from David Vanegas (Escondido, Calif.).
Triana netted his second and third goals of the evening at 9:52 and 11:51, respectively, to double the visitors' lead to 4.
Regis' fifth goal of the contest was credited to Jai Pandit (Parkland, Fla.) after he dished in a ball that ricocheted off the post, directly off of a Gary Broad (Shelton, Conn.) save.
The Pride did not stop at that point, as they dumped another pair of goals for a 7-0 lead before freshman Sam Riva (Sheffield, Mass.) put the Wildcats on the board with a converted PK.
Regis bounced back to close out the half, adding one more marker to the tally for good measure, with an unassisted Jefferson Lorimer (Lynn, Mass.) goal at 36:39.
The second period was much quieter than the previous, as the game remained scoreless through the opening 27:29 of the stanza. Kevin Davies (Sherborn, Mass.) fired a rocket from the top on a direct kick to open things back up for Regis, before Devin Brady (Springfield, Vt.) found a wide open Lorimer under a minute later.
The final goal of the game was recorded in the 86th minute when Brady converted a cross from Zach Sindoni (Haverhill, Mass.) to finalize the 11-1 score.
Manny Santiago picked up the win after making 1 save, while Broad took the loss with 14.
Wheelock will close out their 2016 season on Saturday, October 29 when they host Becker College at 3:00 p.m., while Regis will host Elms College at noon on the same day.