Wall's hat trick pushes men's soccer to 4-1 win

ORANGE, Calif. – A hat trick from senior Aidan Wall and a big day for freshman Riley Thomas led the Chapman University men's soccer team to a 4-1 win over La Verne on Saturday night at Wilson Field.

Wall's hat trick was just the 19th in Chapman history but the first for the Panthers since 2014. He scored the first goal of the match in the first half and scored twice more in the second to fuel the Panther effort. He now has a career-high seven goals in just seven matches.

The first goal came just after the 15-minute mark after a through ball from Thomas. Wall rolled it past a charging keeper and across the mouth of the goal for a 1-0 Chapman lead. The Leopards responded when Joel Trejo headed in a free kick to equal the game before halftime.

Just three minutes into the second half Wall struck again after Thomas drove through the defense and fed Wall at the top of the box. He spun and fired with his left foot to the near post for a 2-1 lead.

It was Wall again in the 74th minute to put the Panthers up two goals. This time, a bouncing pass from Anthony Moon was volleyed in by Wall to complete the hat trick.

Thomas added his goal just over a minute later when he volleyed in an attempted clearance by the La Verne defender to complete a five-point match.

The Chapman defense held La Verne to just four shots in the contest while dominating possession time. Wall took 10 of the Panthers' 23 shots. Chapman put 11 shots on target in the rout.

The Panthers head to Cal Lutheran on Wednesday for a 4 p.m. match and return home on Oct. 9.

By Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director

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