Both Dalton State squads get blowout weekend wins

On Oct. 23, both the men’s and women’s soccer teams from Dalton State College competed in home Southern States Athletic Conference matches against Point University. Both teams achieved impressive victories.

The Lady Roadrunners triumphed over Point with a dominant 5-0 win, while the DSC men followed suit with a 6-0 thrashing of Point.

The women’s team (8-5-1, 5-4 SSAC) held Point (1-12-4, 0-8-2 SSAC) scoreless, not allowing them any shots on goal. They scored two goals before halftime and added three more in the second half to secure the victory.

Emma Johnson opened the scoring for Dalton State with an unassisted goal just 7 minutes and 27 seconds into the match.

The score remained 1-0 until just 31 seconds before halftime when Lauren Wright, assisted by Guadalupe Martinez, scored her first goal of the day.

In the 56th minute, Ava Vandoren extended the Lady Roadrunners’ lead to 3-0 with a goal.

Wright completed her brace with a goal in the 74th minute, and Issela Briceño, a former Dalton High School student, scored in the 80th minute to wrap up the scoring.

The Lady Roadrunners had an impressive 32 total shots, with 13 shots on goal. Point University was unable to register a single shot on goal throughout the game.

Skyhawk goalkeeper Kelly Rowland made eight saves to prevent an even more lopsided result in favor of DSC.

Vandoren led the Lady Roadrunners with 10 shots. Wright, who came off the bench, scored two goals in just 43 minutes and had five shots, three of which were on target. Johnson also recorded five shots, while Lesley Alanis, a Southeast Whitfield graduate, had four shots, with one on goal.

With this victory, the Lady Roadrunners have set a new record for the most conference wins in a season with five, surpassing the previous best of four wins achieved by a team in its inaugural season in 2016.

Dalton State’s next opportunity to increase their conference wins will be in their final regular-season game against Blue Mountain Christian on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. The team will then participate in the SSAC tournament.

Following the women’s game, the DSC men’s team (9-1-3, 6-1-1 SSAC) also put on a dominant performance, defeating Point (3-11, 2-8 SSAC) 6-0.

The Roadrunners allowed nine shots from Point, but when they scored, they did so in quick succession.

Rasmus Andersson broke the deadlock at the 22-minute mark, followed by Jack Stainrod’s goal just over two minutes later, assisted by Jurgen Ramirez and Juan Demichelis.

The score remained 2-0 until the 59th minute when Demichelis made it 3-0 with a goal.

Point inadvertently conceded an own goal at the 65:07 mark, and shortly after, Kazuma Ishizuka scored, assisted by Jack Brown and Demichelis.

Dalton High graduate Filemon Quintero secured the final goal in the 88th minute, with assists from Ishizuka and Mizuki Saika.

The Roadrunners outshot Point 20-9, with a 15-3 advantage in shots on goal.

Stainrod and Brown alone matched Point’s shots on target with three each, although Brown was unable to find the back of the net.

The Roadrunners will face Faulkner in Montgomery, Alabama, on Wednesday at 5 p.m. before wrapping up their regular season against Blue Mountain Christian on Saturday.