Trifecta: GWU's Clarke Posts His Third Hat Trick of the Season in the 'Dogs 5-0 Win Over Asheville
October 24, 2013 | Men's Soccer
Boiling Springs, N.C. - Gardner-Webb forward Denzel Clarke notched his third hat trick of the season, as the Runnin' Bulldogs blanked UNC Asheville 5-0 on "Senior Night" Wednesday night at Greene-Harbison Field.
Gardner-Webb increased its current winning streak to three straight matches and improved to 7-6-1 overall and 4-3-0 in the Big South with the win. Asheville falls to 4-10-0 and 1-5-0 in the Big South with the loss.
Clarke recorded the first three goals of the match to post his third hat trick of the season and become the first Runnin' Bulldog to have three hat tricks in the same season in GWU's Division I history. The three goals increased his season total to 15 on the year.
GWU took a 3-0 lead with goals from Clarke in the fifth, 16th and 51st minutes and then added insurance goals from Dustin Peyton in the 59th minute and Ali Al-Gashamy in the 62nd minute en route to the 5-0 shutout win.
Clarke got the scoring started in the fifth minute, as senior Marius Hammersmark played a cross in to the box from the right side of the field. The cross was right on the front post where Clarke beat an Asheville defender to the ball and put his touch into the back of the net to put the home team up 1-0.
The Runnin' Bulldogs continued its early offensive onslaught, as both Clarke and Hammersmark had a shot blocked over the next five minutes of play, while midfielders Arjun Jung and Al-Gashamy each sent shots offline to keep the score at 1-0 through 15 minutes of play.
In the 16th minute Clarke struck again, as this time Al-Gashamy played a cross from left to right in front of the box where Clarke leaped to get his knee on the ball and knocked it just inside the front right post for his second goal of the game.
Gardner-Webb continued to put pressure on the Asheville defense despite the 2-0 lead, as the Runnin' Bulldogs out shot the Asheville Bulldogs 6-3 over the remainder of the first half.
GWU's Iman Mafi had one shot stopped and another shot blocked over that span, while fellow midfielder Patrick Gürser saw his shot attempt clang off the front left post in the 35th minute.
Asheville's Stabler Cochrane tallied the visitors first shot of the match in the 27th minute, as it sailed high of the cross bar and out of play, while both Bobby Castro and Emil Gonslavez each registered a shot over the final 10 minutes of the opening half.
The Bulldogs of Asheville started the second half off with shots from Castro and Mick Giordano, yet to no avail, as again the Runnin' Bulldogs made good on another one of its shot attempts as Clarke put in his third goal of the game in the 51st minute.
Asheville goalkeeper Dan Jackson misplayed a ball in front of his goal where Clarke was in the right place at the right time, took advantage and put the shot into the open net to give GWU the 3-0 lead.
After each team had a shot fly off line over the next several minutes, GWU's Peyton accounted for his first career goal in the 59th minute as he found a cross go through the box and then played a sliding shot just inside the front left post to put the home team up 4-0.
Al-Gashamy, who had two assists already in the match, picked up a goal of his own in the 62nd minute, as the midfielder put a nice-place chip shot over the goalkeepers head from the just outside the left side of the box for his third goal of the season.
Over the final 25 minutes of play, Gardner-Webb was able to get valuable key minutes from a number of players off its bench, including redshirt-senior Colin Ashley who made a save on an Asheville header in the 87th minute.
Freshman goalkeeper Matthew Swan earned the win despite not making a single save to improve to 7-6-1 overall on the year.
The Runnin' Bulldogs out shot Asheville 24-8 for the match and also held a slight 6-2 advantage in corner kicks.
Prior to the match, seniors Ashley, Jonas Nader and Hammersmark were recognized.
Gardner-Webb (7-6-1, 4-3-0 Big South) will wrap up its 2013 regular season road slate this Saturday afternoon, as the Runnin' Bulldogs will take on the Fighting Camels of Campbell University at 1 p.m. in Buies Creek, N.C. Asheville (4-10-0, 1-5-0 Big South) will remain on the road to take on the VMI Keydets on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. in Lexington, Va.
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| Box Score: Gardner-Webb 5, UNC Asheville 0 |
