The Lafayette men’s soccer team (2-1, 0-0 PL) faced off against Mt. Saint Mary’s on Friday in what resulted in a comfortable 3-0 victory for the home team. With an overwhelming twelve shots to the Mount’s five, the Leopards controlled the game from start to finish.

Sophomore midfielder Carter Houlihan opened the scoring after connecting on a volley after a long throw-in from senior forward Marcos Kitromilides. The second goal came in the second half when Kitromilides assisted his teammate junior midfielder Yiannis Panayides who tapped the ball in from close range.

Kitromilides’s efforts earned him Patriot League offensive player of the week honors for the second time since last season.

“It feels good to receive individual personal awards, but at the end of the day these mean nothing for me if the team does not achieve its goals,” Kitromilides said. “The team is looking good. It has been a good start so far but to be honest with you, knowing our abilities, I think we haven’t even reached the surface yet.”

Freshman midfielder Jack Borden also added his name to the scoresheet after his deflected shot was enough to beat the goalkeeper in the 82nd minute. This was Borden’s first collegiate goal, coming off an assist from junior forward Jon Ford.

“It felt amazing to get my first goal as a leopard so early in the season and I can’t wait to score more,” Borden said. “All the freshmen have integrated into the team very well, and the ones that have gotten minutes have been huge factors in our victories so far.”

Senior goalkeeper Alex Sutton also starred in this match making a key diving save in the first half as well as recording his first clean sheet of the season.

“I’m incredibly proud of this team, as suffering two final losses in the past two seasons is quite demoralizing. We have not allowed that to affect our commitment, buy-in or effort to focus on this fall season,” Sutton said. “Additionally, the new additions from the freshman class as well as the improvement from current guys has deepened our bench and has allowed us to find success no matter who is on the pitch,”

“We have a committed group of guys who are all in on winning championships, I don’t know what else I could ask for,” he added.

The Leopards will face Albany away tonight and kick off the Patriot League season on September 18 at home against Bucknell.