SELINSGROVE, Pa. — After two draws to kickoff Landmark Conference play, the Catholic men's soccer team hit the road on Wednesday night for a mid-week bout at Susquehanna. The Cardinals put together one of their most complete performances of the season and picked up their third clean sheet of the season with a 3-0 win over the River Hawks.
The game was a stalemate throughout the a good portion of the first half with the Cardinals only getting one shot on target while out-shooting the River Hawks, 6-4. They however made the one shot on target pay off with the game's opening goal with just 5:48 remaining in the first half.
Liam Giblin played a pass on the ground to
Holden Woodings, who took the pass from the right side of goal and while falling away Woodings rocketed a shot into the top left corner of the net to put Catholic on top 1-0.
Catholic's next goal started all the way back inside its own 18-yard box, stringing passes together to allow
Domenico Caltabiano to deliver a ball into the middle of the Susquehanna defense to Woodings. Woodings, from several yards outside on the penalty area, turned into plenty of pace and placed a beautiful strike that was unsavable into the top right corner to earn himself a double and put Catholic on top 2-0.
Woodings was not yet done leaving his mark on the contest, after racing through the Susquehanna back line and drawing a free kick in a very dangerous area for Catholic. Woodings limed up over the free kick spot and once again came away with a clinical finish past a diving keeper to complete a hat trick and put the final dagger into the River Hawks. The hat trick was the first scored by a Catholic player since 2019 when Ben Alexander did so on November 5 against Moravian. The three goals were more than enough to secure the victory with the Cardinals defense keeping things tight throughout to close out the 3-0 win.
The three goals for Woodings brings his season total to seven which leads all Catholic scorers by at least five goals and is tied for the most goals in the Landmark Conference currently. Woodings also now has four goals in Landmark play which paces the entire conference.
Giblin picked up his third assist of the season, which is the second-most on the team to this point and Caltabiano picked up his first. It was the 19th assist in Caltabiano's career which is the program record. The assist also brings his career points total to 55 which is the ninth most in program history.
Owen Allegro played all 90 minutes in goal for the Cardinals to earn his second solo shut-out of the season and third overall.
Maxim Pencak and
Maximilian Penczar each played the full 90 minutes in defense to help contribute to the shut-out with
Mudi Jagha and Giblin each playing 84 minutes as well. The Cardinals kept the River Hawks from even putting a shot on target for the entire match.
The Cardinals remain on the road over the weekend when they travel to Drew to take on the Rangers. The match is Saturday, October 12 and is set to kick off at Ranger Stadium at 3:30 pm.
