The Roos' Caleb Mitchell played hard.

Roos romp on Harris' hat trick

By: David Cordill

Posted: 10/27/08

Senior forward Bryan Harris recorded a Senior Day hat trick, vaulting the UMKC men's soccer team over Oral Roberts University (ORU) 3-1 at Bourke Field Saturday afternoon.

Harris found the back of the net twice in the first frame and again in the second for the sixth three-goal performance in UMKC history.

"It's amazing, especially on Senior Day," said Harris on his feat. "It feels awesome."

The trio of strikes moves Harris into the lead among UMKC goal scorers with ten on the year. He also leads the team in points with 24 total on the season.

With the win against a conference opponent, the Kangaroos (8-4-2; 3-1) move into sole possession on second place in Summit League standings, trailing Oakland University by only three points.

Head Coach Rick Benben talked about the implications of the win.

"It was a huge game," he said. "It put us a long way towards getting us into the conference tournament. But we still want to win the conference title outright."

Benben said he liked what he saw from the Kangaroos defensive against what he called "a good attacking team."

"Coops [UMKC sophomore goalkeeper Ken Cooper] was solid at goal," he said. "Chris Markey, John David [Hernandez] and Matt Kopsky played really good too. Quinty [sophomore defender Brian Quintana] and [freshman midfielder] Sean Butler also do a ton of work for us. Those guys and players like Garret Guthrie and Miguel Rodrigues are the unsung ones. The demands on them are a lot."

UMKC opened the scoring in the 12th minute when Guthrie targeted a pass to Harris near the top right corner of the penalty area.

Harris then chipped the ball nicely over ORU goalkeeper Irving Peralta for his first goal of the match.

The Golden Eagles (5-7-2; 2-1-1) equalized the match at 1-1 in the 30th minute on Carlos Pinto's fifth goal of the season.

Pinto found momentary space amid the Kangaroo defenders and was able to punch the ball under a diving Cooper for the score.

The stalemate was short-lived. Four-and-a-half minutes later, the UMKC junior midfielder Bryan Perez set up a through ball to Harris who was again near the top left of the penalty area.

Harris promptly sent a high arcing shot over the fingertips of a leaping Peralta for a 2-1 advantage.

The Kangaroos would put the game on ice in the 65th minute on Harris' third strike of the match.

Perez again fed Harris, this time with a smart inside ball that trickled just behind the ORU defenders. Harris, trailing the pass, caught up with the ball and pushed it past an overextended Peralta.

"Perez saw me running at played it through," said Harris. "Then it was just one on one. I couldn't ask for a better ball."

With the important conference victory, UMKC stayed a perfect 6-0 at home. They have won their last nine matches at Bourke Field.

After the game, Kangaroos captain Miguel Rodrigues relished in the team's triumph.

"We're undefeated at home," he said. "It was Senior Day and it was great to have Harris score three goals. This could be a clincher for the conference tournament."

Rodrigues, Harris, Guthrie, senior midfielder Levi Coleman and senior forward Caleb Mitchell were honored at halftime during a Senior Day ceremony.

The players were joined by their respective parents on the soccer field at the intermission.

Harris' hat trick was the second such performance of the season for the Kangaroos and marks the first time in UMKC history that the feat has been accomplished twice in the same year.

Bryan Perez tallied three goals in the Kangaroos 4-1 win over Drake University.

Cooper finished the game with three saves on the afternoon. UMKC registered eight shots on goal for the game.

The Kangaroos resume action Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. with a match against Missouri State. This will be UMKC's final home game of the 2008 season.

dcordill@unews.com