Newburgh, N.Y. – A trio of Mount Saint Mary College players recorded three points and senior Mike Zanfardino (Saint James, N.Y.) picked up a pair of assists as the Knights' Men's Soccer team eased to a 7-1 non-conference victory over the visiting Culinary on Thursday night in its 2016 season opener.
 
The Knights opened the scoring in the 18^th minute when Matt Fuge (Avon, N.Y.) ripped a shot to the upper right hand corner off a feed from Bereket Watts (Southold, N.Y.) to give the Mount an early one goal advantage at the 17:28 mark of the match. The goal was the first of Fuge's career in his 20^th game played.
 
Just under 10 minutes later freshman Kenan Kizar (Manalapan, N.J.) potted his first career goal, an unassisted tally in the 27th minute. Watts struck with the Knights' third goal just under four minutes later when he finished off a pass from Joey Dolan (New Paltz, N.Y.) in the 31^st minute of action.
 
Senior Matthew Minniter (Mahopac, N.Y.) closed out the first half scoring with his first of the season 36:01 into the tilt. He took a pass from Zanfardino on the right wing and deposited his seventh career marker to send the Mount into the intermission with a commanding 4-0 lead.
 
Mount Saint Mary carried the play in the opening 45 minutes, outshooting the visitors 14-2 and taking each of the seven corner kicks awarded in the frame. Senior net minder Tyler Biscone (Garden City, N.Y.) stopped a pair of shots in the opening half for the Knights.
 
Coming out of the break, the Knights kept the pressure on and scored in the 49^th minute to open a 5-0 advantage. Sophomore Fred Stark (Hollis, N.Y.) finished off Zanfardino's second assist of the game at the 48:18 mark of the match.
 
Trailing 5-0, the Steels got on the board in the 72^nd minute on a penalty kick goal. William Brumbaugh put the attempt away to break up the shutout.
 
After surrendering its first goal of the season, the Mount went back to work and potted two more goals in the final 12 minutes to close out the scoring in the game. Jonathan Schefer (Greenlawn, N.Y.) cleaned up a turnover in the box and turned it into his first career goal with just under 12 minutes left in the tilt and Dolan got on the board with his first of the year, off a pass from Fuge, at 83:12 to seal the win for the Knights.
 
Dolan, Fuge and Watts all finished the game with a goal and an assist as the Knights featured seven different goal scorers in the game. Dolan led the Mount with 11 shots, including five on goal, with Fuge registering seven shots for the Knights.
 
Biscone picked up the win in goal, making two stops in just shy of 70 minutes of work. Newcomer Thomas Trainor (Patterson, N.Y.) came on to play the final 20:13 in his first career appearance for the Knights.
 
Overall, the Mount outshot the Steels 37-3, including 18-3 in shots on goal. The Knights also held a commanding 13-2 advantage in corner kicks.
 
With the win, Mount Saint Mary moves to 1-0 on the season. The Knights will remain at home for a non-conference game with local foe Vassar on Sunday evening. Kick-off with the Brewers at Kaplan Field is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.