Sophomore Joao Godoy recorded his first career hat trick as the Lake Forest College men's soccer team hosted and defeated Ripon College 4-0 on Sunday.
Godoy scored the only goal of the first half with just 4:33 on the clock. He took a well-placed cross from junior Alex Armas and blasted it past the Re Hawk goalkeeper from 10 yards out for his first score of the season.
Lake Forest attempted 11 shots before halftime without allowing any from the visitors. The Foresters added a dozen more shot attempts in the final period and finished the contest with a 23-0 advantage in that category.
Despite the Foresters' significant edge in shots, their lead remained 1-0 until freshman Deniz Gundogdu netted his first career goal at the 81:12 mark. Gundogdu gained control of the ball on the left side of the field, split a pair of defenders and sidestepped another before sending it into the right side of the net for the score.
Godoy added to the home team's lead just 16 seconds later, scoring from 10 yards out on a cross from the left side of the field by freshman Erik Truitt.
Godoy also closed out the scoring with 4:01 to play in the contest. A corner kick from Armas somehow made it through the area in front of the middle of the goal to Godoy, whose shot from point blank range was caught by the Ripon goalie but his momentum took him into the goal. Godoy had just one career score before Sunday's three-goal performance. The two assists by Armas gave him a team-high four on the year.
Forester senior goalkeeper Tero Elias was credited with his third shutout of the season and he now ranks fifth in program history with eight in his career.
Lake Forest improved to 5-3-1 overall on the season while Ripon fell to 3-5-0. It was the Midwest Conference opener for both teams.
The Foresters will play their final non-conference game of the regular season on Tuesday against visiting Hope College. The contest will begin at 4:00 p.m.
