APPLETON, Wis. — Casey Merkle scored four goals to lead the Lawrence University women’s soccer team to an 8-1 nonconference rout of Maranatha Baptist University on Tuesday at Whiting Field West.
Merkle, a sophomore midfielder, tallied the third-highest goal total in a match for the Vikings. The record for goals in a match is six by Libby Mullin in 1986.
Eva Tourangeau, a freshman, scored the first two goals of her career, and Keli Muchowski and Ryan Berkley added one goal apiece for the Vikings (2-4-0).
Lawrence owned a 34-2 edge in shots, and Dani Glass made one save for the Vikings.
Maranatha (1-3-1) led 1-0 after Anna Dahl scored off a free kick in the eighth minute. Muchowski tied it for the Vikings off a pass from Anne Leung at the 13:10 mark.
Merkle scored her first goal of the afternoon at 16:23 off a pass from Genna Matt to give the Vikings the lead for good. Merkle made it 3-1 off a pass from Muchowski at 30:14 and the rout was on.
Ryan Berkley was taken down in the box and scored on a penalty kick to give Lawrence a 4-1 edge at 33:52. Merkle completed the hat trick at 38:52 with an unassisted goal to put the Vikings up 5-1.
Tourangeau scored her first career goal at 63:24 for a 6-1 lead, and Merkle picked up her fourth just 3:04 later for a 7-1 edge. Tourangeau completed the scoring with her second goal of the match at 69:31.
The hat trick was the first for a Lawrence player since Muchowski did it against Knox College on Sept. 22, 2013. The four goals was the most for a Lawrence player since Mallory Koula scored four times against Beloit College on Oct. 15, 2011.