Maksimovic scores hat-trick, Bethel rolls past Ecclesia in men's soccer home opener
The freshman led the way in his first appearance at Thresher Stadium.
On Monday night, the Bethel men's soccer team hosted Ecclesia in a non-conference matchup. The Threshers bossed the possession from the start and put six goals past the visitors en route to a 6-1 victory.
Bethel, with two key players back from injury — Juan Volker and Adalsteinn Kristinsson were back in the starting 11 after missing last week's game — looked to maintain possession from kickoff.
The Threshers struggled to find the finishing passes in the final third of the field for the majority of the first half. It wasn’t until their perseverance finally paid off when freshman Filip Maksimovic found the back of the net.
The Threshers were able to get one more goal before half-time as senior Jaime Guardado got on the score sheet, assisted by Maksimovic.
“I feel like it's always a good thing to come up on the scoresheet,” Guardado from Wichita said. “I picked up the ball and played Filip, and Filip played me back, and I made the right run.”
Coming out of half-time the message was to keep moving forward and try to find the back of the net. Bethel was able to do so once again as Maksimovic was able to score twice in the span of a minute.
“We played pretty much an entire game with pressing and we played attacking football,” Maksimovic said. “It is always important to score, but the team's achievements are more important than mine.”
Maksimovic finished the night with a hat-trick and an assist. The Threshers put past two more goals — scored by Kevin Applewhite and Francisco Soto — before the end of the game.
Bethel wasn’t able to keep a clean sheet as they conceded a goal in the final twelve minutes of the game, giving them the 6-1 win on their home opener.
“We needed to come back from the USAO game, and the guys just worked hard to get this result — credit to guys,” head coach Luka Milicevic said. “Like we always say, thinking one game at a time, and this is a new game for us. So can we go into it with the intensity that we showed yesterday and get another win.”
The Threshers will be back in action on Wednesday as they welcome Central Christian College to North Newton. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. immediately following the women’s soccer home opener.