Men's Soccer 9/11/2012 7:32:00 PM Dave Albee

Mitnick, Guevara Lead Penguins to 5-0 Victory, 3-0 Start

Kolby Mitnick recorded a hat trick in Tuesday's non-conference victory over William Jessup University.

Box Score SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — Winning men's soccer games is becoming habit forming at Dominican University of California.

Sophomore Kolby Mitnick netted a three-goal hat trick in the first half and Pedro Guevara had a third straight two-goal game as the undefeated Penguins defeated former California Pacific Conference rival William Jessup University of Rocklin 5-0 Tuesday on Kennelly Field at the John F. Allen Athletics Complex. It was Dominican's most lopsided win since a 7-0 victory versus Pacific Union on Oct. 24, 2008 and the first time since Sept. 26, 2009 that the Penguins claimed a three-game winning streak.

“In the last two games that we've played we've seen something different in comparison to the last few years and that's a team that sits in against us defensively,” said Dominican Director of Soccer Jon Delano. “That gives us a whole different set of problems to try to solve. I feel like we're progressing well with regards to when a team sits in on us and how we can break them down. That was the biggest thing we needed to address and improve.”

The Penguins amassed a 5-0 lead over the Warriors (2-5-0) with 6:34 left in the opening half.

Guevara opened the scoring by netting the 30th goal of his Dominican career with an assist from Nuri Nuri Bon-Acosta off a counter started by Swap Mushiana. Mitnick, with an assist from David Mendez following a pass by Sam Vella, tallied next then he scored again 1:58 later on a through pass from Guevara.

Guevara extended the lead to 4-0 with a goal off a free kick four yards outside the box then Mendez recorded his second assist in the half, setting up Mitnick for his third tally.

It was the most goals scored in a game by a Dominican player since Guevara scored five as a freshman in a 7-1 triumph over California Maritime on Sept. 27, 2008.

“I thought we were good, especially in the first half. We were very sharp,” said Delano. “I thought we did some very good things. It was important we got off to a quick start. That was the one point we talked about before the game. It was 3-0 13 minutes in so we executed that part of the game plan, which is nice.”

Senior goalkeeper Casey Gibson shared the shutout victory with starting goalie Erik Anderson, who was called upon to make one save in the opening minute of the game. After that, the Penguins recorded 20 of the next 21 shots in first half, including blasts by defenders Cory Vanderpool, Chris Sennes, and Fabian Valdez-Mendoza. That led to nine saves by starting Warriors goalie Zach Kammerer.

Delano cleared his bench in the second half, starting a new 11-man unit.

“All in all when you get to this level a win is a win and you've got to be happy,” said Delano. “Obviously we've got to prepare for Saturday.”

The Penguins, who have outscored their opponents 12-1 in three non-conference games this season on their new field, will seek to extend their winning streak to four games – which would be their longest since Oct. 7, 2008 – when they open Pacific West Conference play on Saturday against Azusa Pacific University, one of the four new PacWest member schools this season.

The men's game at Kennelly Field starts at 1:30 p.m. followed by the Azusa Pacific-Dominican women's game at 4 p.m. Live stats for both games will be available at www.dominicanathletics.com/live.

Be sure to Like Dominican Athletics on Facebook and follow the Penguins on Twitter @dominicansports.

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