The men’s soccer team rolled over Howard in the “Battle of the Bison” on Sept. 13. Led by striker Jesse Klug ’16, the Bison cruised to a 4-0 victory at Emmitt Field. Klug had a career day, scoring a goal and recording three assists.

Offensively, the Bison took a 1-0 lead into halftime. Ten minutes into the second half, the Bison caught fire, scoring three goals before the 67th minute. In the 56th minute, Chris Thorsheim ’16 split two Howard defenders and slipped a pass to Klug to take the 2-0 lead.

“We went into halftime with a 1-0 lead, but we knew that once we scored again they would start to break down,” Thorsheim said. “After the second goal, they lost their shape and we started to have quality chances at will. It was good to come out with a lot of energy in the second half because we have a tendency to have slow first halves this year.”

In the 59th minute, Klug made a precise diagonal pass to Thorsheim, and the midfielder ripped the shot over the head of Howard’s goalie. In the 66th minute, Jonathan Grad ’15 took a pass from Klug and made a finesse shot into the left corner. 

The Orange and Blue came out stronger in the second half than they did in the first, similar to their recent game against Buffalo.

“Our second-half performance was more up to our expectations, but we still have yet to put together a full 90 minutes,” head coach Brendan Nash said. 

The Bison held strong on the defensive end as well, earning their second consecutive shutout performance and their fourth in the last five games. The Orange and Blue also held a 23-7 shot advantage. The Bison defense will make them hard to beat as they head into league play soon.

“It was good to come out and really explode on the offensive end in the second half and show that we have the ability to score lots of goals. We need to take this momentum into our week of practices as we prepare for our next opponent,” Thorsheim said.

The Bison (4-2) will be back in action at 2 p.m. tomorrow at Emmitt Field against Xavier.