READING, Pa. – Scoring was contagious for the Ursinus College men's soccer team in a Saturday night shootout at Arcadia.
The Bears scored four goals in the first half – two separated by less than a minute and the other two by less than two minutes – en route to their first victory of the season, an entertaining 5-3 result in Reading.
Marco Grenda netted a quick-fire brace in the first half and added an assist in the second stanza to lead Ursinus (1-1), which rebounded nicely from a double-overtime loss at Stockton two nights prior. Aidan O'Malley paired a goal with an assist, Nick Balbierer and Jerry Bardol scored their first career goals, and Mike Buck recorded his first career assist.
Grenda put the Bears on top with an incredible goal, taking a long ball from Issi Brainsky and maneuvering the ball to his right foot for a 25-yard rocket to the top right corner. He was at it again 59 seconds later, taking a perfect cross from O'Malley and using the toe of his boot to blast a shot to nearly the same spot.
Ursinus doubled its already sizeable advantage with a flurry to finish the first half. Buck fed a pinpoint through ball to Bardol, who took a touch and sent a left-footed shot into the back of the net to open his collegiate account. With less than a minute remaining in the half, Luke Luehrs was brought down in the box and O'Malley slotted the spot kick perfectly into the lower left corner to expand the margin to 4-0.
After the Lions got on the board, Balbierer grabbed a poacher's goal in the 60th minute. Following a corner kick, the ball was batted in the air twice before the first-year leapt to head it into the back of the net for his first Ursinus goal.
Albright managed to make things interesting with two unanswered goals, but was unable to get any closer.
Grenda accounted for six of the Bears' 13 shots, nine of which were on target. He was credited with the assist on Balbierer's goal, the first helper of his career.