LIVONIA, Mich. – The Madonna University men's soccer team defeated the University of Saint Francis Cougars 8-0 on Saturday afternoon at the Madonna Athletics Compex with the winning goal coming just 15 minutes into the game by Wagner Gameiro Febbe.

FINAL: RV Madonna (4-2-0 ) 8, Saint Francis (2-3-0 ) 0

• First Half

  • The Blue and Gold started strong, applying pressure from the first minute on, deep in the opposition's half, leading to three shots in the first ten minutes.

  • A Crusaders' counter attack led to Kazuya Odawara passing the ball nicely for Gameiro Febbe to finesse into the bottom right hand corner in the 16th minute for the game winning goal.

  • The Crusaders kept the pressure on, with Issei Ito scoring just five minutes later off a Ludvick Asigo cross.

  • Marlon Freitas was awarded a penalty kick after a rash challenge inside the box by a Saint Francis defender in the 25th minute. He converted the penalty with a hard shot to the bottom left corner.

  • Ten minutes later, Kyle Tinnion added to the Crusaders tally after a save from Saint Francis' goalkeeper Braden Conn fell right to his foot to put back into the net.

  • Rodrigo Siqueira scored the final goal of the first half after a great run down the wing by Costa Wells ended with a pass across to Siqueira for an easy finish.

• Second Half

  • The second half started quickly, with Freitas connecting with Gameiro Febbe just 44 seconds into the period to get the scoring started again. After Freitas made some moves to get around a few defenders, he crossed the ball in low to Gameiro Febbe who backheeled the ball into the net.

  • In the 52nd minute, Tavon Barnes added to Madonna's lead in similar fashion after a Gameiro Febbe cross was finished with a backheel as well.

  • The finishing blow came from Tinnion for his second goal in the 84th minute, when a well placed outside-the-foot shot ended up in the bottom left corner of the net.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• The Crusaders dominated the Cougars with 31 shots to seven, and held the lead with 18 of them on goal to the Cougars' three.

• Gameiro Febbe finished with two goals and an assist while Freitas added a goal and an assist.

• Tinnion's two goals came on three shots off the bench while Barnes, who made is MU debut, scored on one of his two shots.

• Goalkeepers Joe Smith and Michael Lubonja shared the shutout, with Lubonja having to make the only three saves for Madonna.

• Leonardo Abonizio led in shots for the Crusaders with six, with Ito close behind with four

• Siqueira, Tinnion, and Gameiro Febbe tied for third with 3 shots each.

UP NEXT:

• The Crusaders will play at home against Spring Arbor University, who is also receiving votes in the NAIA poll, on Wednesday, Sept. 19th with kickoff at 4 p.m.

• Live coverage will be available at mucrusaders.com/live.

CONNECT WITH THE CRUSADERS: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube