Best start in XU soccer history

The Xavier men's soccer team defeated Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne 5-0 on Tuesday night after a nine day break.

This win marks Xavier's first 5-0 win since a win over Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis in 2007.

"The players did a great job responding to the nine day layoff between matches. Some teams might have come out flat but our guys were ready to go from the opening whistle," assistant coach Kris Bertsch said.

The Musketeers improved to 3-0, holding strong to their current undefeated record.

This season has had the best start in the 35-year history of men's soccer at Xavier.

"We are happy to finally earn that ‘emphatic' win of the season. We have played a number of 1-0 matches where we felt if we could have gotten the second goal the match would have been closed out. Tonight, we did a great job getting that second goal and because of it we were able to get goals three, four and five," Bertsch said.

In the first three matches of the season, Xavier has earned its first national ranking of No. 24 in the country.

Junior Luke Spencer was named Co-Player of the Week last week by the Atlantic 10 for his role in Xavier's best start of a season since 2007, 2-0-0.

"Luke is an important linchpin to our attack. When he has a good game, we tend to play well overall," Bertsch said in an e-mail.

Spencer scored one goal against IPFW. His goal came in the 47th minute to give the Musketeers a 2-0 lead.

"Spencer's goal was huge for us tonight. It gave us a two goal cushion for the first time this season and gave us a confidence boost to break the score line open," Bertsch said.

Freshman James Weber scored his first goal of the season in the 78th minute from 18 feet out.

Weber then went on to score his second season goal in the 84th minute to score Xavier's fifth and final goal of the night.

Weber led Xavier in scoring with two goals.

Xavier's other goals came from junior James Queree and redshirt sophomore Tanner Petrick.

Xavier goalkeeper junior Justin Marshall played for 76:31 and had one save combined with senior Ryan Engelmenn to shutout IPFW. Engelmenn played for 13:29 and had one save.

The Musketeers will return to action when they take on the Northern Illinois Huskies at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 16 in Chicago. The Huskies are currently 5-0-0, and NI senior Francis Otira was named co-Mid-American Conference Player of the Week.