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WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Otterbein University men's soccer team notched a pair of first-half goals before exploding in the second half en route to a 7-0 victory over La Roche in its season opener Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.

"I was really pleased with our performance today," said first-year head coach Jason Griffiths, who also tallied his first collegiate coaching win. "We set out a certain way to play today and the guys did a great job of executing our game plan. Today was a great team performance."

The Cardinals unloaded 12 shots in the first half and held the Redhawks to just six shots, as junior Erick Juarez-Manning notched the game's initial goal in the 10th minute off a lead pass into the box from sophomore Pau Piang.

Piang picked up his second-straight assist on the Cards' next score, as sophomore Kennedy Mensah slipped past the Redhawk defense for his first collegiate goal to give the team a 2-0 lead at the break. Sophomore goalkeeper Collin Hoffmann was key in keeping the La Roche offense at-bay in the initial frame, stopping five shots.

Less than five minutes into the second half, junior Juan Rivas ignited the Cardinal offense to five additional scores and the first of three for himself on the day. Rivas' first goal came just before the 50th minute on a well-placed cross in the box by senior Nate Norris, before he again assisted Rivas on his second goal less than 10 minutes later.

Sophomore Tiger Pham scored in between Rivas' scoring-spree on a penalty kick following a foul on Redhawk goalkeeper Abdullah Aljundi in the box, boosting the Cards' lead to 4-0. 

Junior Toby Varland then scored his first collegiate goal seven minutes later after Rivas touched a nice pass through the La Roche defense, before Rivas turned around to achieve the hat trick in the 89th minute off a dish by freshman Kohei Adams.

"We had some really nice goals all around and I'm really happy for Juan (Rivas)," Griffiths noted. "He has been waiting a long time for those goals and has been working very hard in training and it's paid off."

Hoffmann finished the match with six saves in goal for his first win and shutout of the season, while the Cards also blanked the Redhawks in corner kicks, 8-0. A physical game was the end result on the penalty side as the two teams combined for 28 fouls, 21 credited to Otterbein, and four yellow cards.

The Cardinals return to action next Tuesday as they travel to Kenyon for match under the lights at Mavec Field in Gambier, Ohio. First kick is set for 5:15 p.m.