Lira’s hat trick leads Bruins past Panthers, 4-0

YORK, Neb. - Senior Manuel Lira (Guadalajara, Mexico) scored a hat trick to lead the Bellevue University men's soccer team to a 4-0 victory over York College on Wednesday afternoon in a Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference match.

The Bruins (10-2-1, 2-0-0 MCAC), ranked No. 15 in this week's Coaches' Poll, have won three straight and seven of their last eight. York falls to 7-8-1 (0-3-0 MCAC) with their fifth loss in their last six outings.

The Bruins struck first in the opening minute of the match when Lira tallied his fourth goal of the season with the assist going to freshman Rob Smith (Lincoln, England). Smith would score a goal of his own in the 10^th minute, unassisted, to double the Bruins' advantage over the host Panthers.

Lira would complete his hat trick before the half-time whistle sounded to put BU up 4-0 at the break. He would score his second goal in the 18^th minute with assists being credited to seniors Vinny Braga (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Alan Carr (Lincolnshire, England). His final goal came in the 31^st minute off of a pass from junior Tobias Maertzke (Hamburg, Germany) to close the scoring for the match.

Sophomore keeper Ben Martin (Lincolnshire, England) made three saves for Bellevue who defeated York for the 10^th straight time, dating back to 2002.

BU out-shot the home-standing Panthers by a final count of 18-4, including holding a 12-3 edge in shots on goal.

Bellevue will return to the pitch on Saturday, Oct. 25 with a 3:30 p.m. MCAC contest at Central Baptist College in Conway, Ark.