The UW-Eau Claire Men’s Soccer team beat Beloit College in their second home game on Sept. 16 at 3 p.m. at Simpson Field.

This is Eau Claire’s third year of having the men’s soccer team, and the teams first-time playing Beloit according to Blugold Athletics.

Casey Holm has been the coach since the beginning of the team.

“I absolutely love how much of a team they are,” Holm said. “They work hard for each other. It has been a ton of fun watching them grow and evolve as a group and just add more things to what we do.”

The first goal of the game was scored around the nine-minute mark by third-year forward Nathan Donovan with the assist from third-year midfielder Carter Thiesfeld.

This was the only goal in the first half, leaving the Blugolds in the lead 1-0.

In the second half, the Blugolds pulled ahead more by scoring four more goals.

Third-year defense Will Miers scored the first goal of the second half.

First-year forward Noah Malcook scored his first collegiate goal around the 56-minute mark with assists from Donovan and fourth-year defense Sam Lynch.

Within two minutes of that goal the Blugolds scored another goal by Donovan with assists from fourth-year forward Porter Ball and Thiesfeld.

First-year forward Brian Vazquez scored the last goal of the game, that goal also being his first collegiate goal. There were assists from second-year forward Owen Williams and third-year forward AJ Mittelstedt.

In the end, the Blugolds won 5-0.

Along with their win, the Blugolds got to sign autographs for kids as this was their youth game day.

Holm said that youth day is his favorite day. He loves watching them sign autographs and having everyone around after the game.

Will Heinen is a third-year marketing major who plays forward for the team.

“It’s super fun. I remember when I was growing up going to high school games and college games in the metro; you would go and sign everything and you would think it was super cool and hang it up on your wall,” Heinen said. “They really take it to heart and really love it, so just to see them smile and everything like that is a joy.”

Thiesfeld agreed with this saying that it is really cool having someone look up to you.

Holm, Heinen and Thiesfeld all agreed that one of the highlights from the game was the ability to have all 38 players on the team be able to get on the field.

“I think the biggest thing is just getting everyone in the game, and coming to the result after a few ties that we didn’t want but we took, so getting everyone in the game is good for the team,” Thiesfeld said.

Thiesfeld says he is looking forward to every game this season.

So far there have been six games played, and there are 12 remaining for the season.

The Blugolds currently have three wins, one loss and two ties.

Their next home game is scheduled for Sept. 26 at 4 p.m. against Simpson College.

For more on Blugold men’s soccer, visit their page on Blugold Athletics.

Geske can be reached at [email protected].