Rivera's pair of set piece strikes leads to 4-0 Pride men's soccer victory over Culver-Stockton

DUBUQUE, Iowa - Needing positive results coming down the stretch late in the regular season, the Clarke University men's soccer team did just that Wednesday night as they defeated Culver-Stockton College 4-0 at Burrows Field.

The Pride scored two goals in each half from three different goal scorers and each goal having an assist credited with strong passing connections shown throughout the game by CU.

The scoring got opened up early as Lorran De Almeida scored his fourth goal of the year off of a nice cross from Mauricio Dos Santos in the eighth minute to make it 1-0. The game would settle down a bit before the Persenico brothers teamed up for a 26th minute goal as Jake Persenico found his younger brother Luke Persenico for Luke's team-leading 10th goal of the season.

In the second half it was two goals scored about two minutes apart on similar looking plays at Eduardo Rivera scored off a set piece sent into the box by Ryan Bayless both in the 59th and 61st minutes to make it 3-0 and 4-0 on Rivera's second and third goals of the season.

The win is an important one Clarke in terms of Heart of America Athletic Conference standings as they now sit in seventh place of a possible eight that qualify for the conference tournament.

There are two teams a game back in the win column from the Pride as it won't get much easier to end the season for CU as they will end the year going up against NAIA ranked No. 1 Central Methodist, Grand View, and MidAmerica Nazarene to finish the season as those three teams hold the top-three spots in the conference standings.

Up next will be that road matchup against the Eagles of CMU this Saturday in Fayette, Mo. with an 11 a.m. CT kickoff scheduled.