JOLIET, Ill. -- The University of St. Francis men's soccer team closed out its season in historic fashion on Saturday afternoon, defeating the Crimson Wave of Calumet College of St. Joseph 17-1 in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference matchup on Senior Day.  The 17 goals scored are the highest count for the Fighting Saints in program history, besting the previous mark of 12, which were scored against Calumet in 2022.  With the victory, the Saints finish the 2024 season with a final record of 5-8-2 overall and 1-7-2 in league play.

First Half
USF set the tone early, displaying a well-rounded offensive attack and suffocating defense.  In the 11th minute, the Saints took advantage of a corner kick from Edward Luna to post their first goal when junior forward Tony Njia sailed over the CCSJ defensive line to push a header past the CCSJ keeper.  Just two minutes later, Anthony Derka doubled the lead with a successful strike assisted by Luna. The Saints continued to apply pressure as Luna got in on the scoring action, netting a goal in the 24th minute off a double assist from Pablo Alvarez and Ander Santamarta to mark the score at 3-0.  Derka picked up his second goal of the match in the 30th minute, while Antwan Esparza added one of his own to the Saint total three minutes later, bringing the score to 5-0.  USF senior goalkeeper Nicholas Di Sandro even joined the offensive scoresheet in the 38th minute to cap off the first-half scoring with a successful penalty kick to put the Saints up 6-0 at the break.  The goal was the first of Di Sandro's career.

Second Half
The second half saw no letdown in USF's offensive attack with the Saints scoring a total of 11 goals in the 45-minute timeframe.  Alvarez scored just minutes after the restart with back-to-back goals just 30 seconds apart in the in the 47th minute to up the lead to 8-0.  Two minutes later, Derka completed his hat trick with his third goal of the afternoon at the 49:32 mark.  Julian Soto increased USF's upper hand to double digits when he authored his first goal of the season before Alvarez posted a hat trick of his own with his third goal of the match in the 63rd minute.  After the Saints committed a foul just outside the top of the box at 65:20, the Crimson Wave (0-11, 0-10) were finally able to get on the scoreboard with their lone goal of the day when Grek Guzman hammered the free kick past a diving Di Sandro to bring the score to 11-1.  The Saints responded quickly with their 12th goal off the foot of Bruno Silva, paving the way for Derka to put a feather in his hat (trick) by authoring a pair of records,  the 13th team goal in the 69th minute and the most goals (four) by an individual player in a single match.  The Saints added four more goals to their total in the contest's remaining 20 minutes - two from Santamarta, one from Victor Sellu and one from Mateo Del Bosque - to secure the 17-1 victory.

USF's win was a complete team effort with 11 different players finding the back of the net and seven Saints recording assists.  Derka (four goals) and Santamarta (four assists) set program records with their single match totals, while USF's 52 total shots and 33 on-goal were the most attempted for both categories in a single match in program history.  Along with Santamarta's four assists, six other players posted a helper in the contest, including three from Luna, two from Alvarez and one each from Sellu, Derka, Njia and Dominik Barwiolek.  Di Sandro recorded one save in the contest.

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