BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Campbell scored five times in the first 69 minutes and defeated Winthrop 5-2 Saturday in Big South Conference men's soccer action at the Eakes Athletic Complex.
Four different players scored for Campbell (8-4-1, 3-3-0 Big South), which produced its most goals in a single match this season. Mitchell Cardenas scored once and added an assist, while Isaiah Page set up a pair of Camel strikes.
Justin Franz, Jhuvon Francis and Ben Iiames also hit the nets for the Camels, who finished with a 20-10 edge in shots, ended a 2-game losing streak and gained 3 valuable points in the league table.
Mason Lavallet and Alex Isern scored for Winthrop (6-6, 2-2), which lost for only the second time in the last six contests.
Franz put the Camels in front in the 11th minute. Cardenas played the ball down the right flank to Page, who cut back at the top of the box and squared a pass to Franz at the top of the area. The junior midfielder drove a low, right-footed shot through traffic into the left side of the net for his second goal of the season.
Winthrop nearly equalized five minutes later when Isern curled a shot that slipped just wide of the right post.
The Camels doubled their lead in the 20th minute when Page struck a low shot in the area that Winthrop keeper Tom Banfield dove to stop, but Francis netted the rebound at the far post for his fourth goal this year.
Ricki Gaez slipped a through ball to Cardenas in the 40th minute for a sharply-angled shot, but Banfield again left his feet to keep the margin at two.
Just after 49 minutes, Cardenas netted what proved to be the winner on a free kick from just outside the box. His shot caromed off the Winthrop wall and into the net for the senior's fifth strike this year.
Less than seven minutes later the margin reached four when Winthrop failed to clear the ball in its box. Campbell's Aleksi Tossavainen hit a low pass in the area that deflected off an Eagle defender and into the net for an own goal.
Isern broke free behind the Camel back line in the 63rd minute, but Camel keeper Ethan Hall charged off his line to keep his sheet clean.
In the 69th minute Iiames produced his first goal of the year. The senior from Raleigh settled a partial clearance outside the box and hit a left-footed blast into the right side of the net.
Winthrop's Matt Sluga nearly scored in the 70th minute when his right-footed shot bounded off the cross bar.
Iiames almost added a second when he caught Eagle keeper Enrique Miranda off his line, but Adam Brundle was able to play Iiames' 20-yard shot off his chest and out of the net.
Winthrop avoided the shutout in the final 10 minutes when Lavallet and Isern both scored against backup Camel keeper Easton Folster as a result of two poor clearances in the Camel end.
Cardenas moved past Craig Winchell (24 goals, 19 assists, 68 points from 1974-77) and Rodrigo Cagide (23G, 21A, 67 pts. from 1988-91) into 17th place on Campbell's all-time scoring list. The senior midfielder now has 68 points on 19 goals and 30 assists in 70 career outings. He has produced at least one point in 10 of CU's 13 matches this year (5G, 10A, 20 pts.)
The Camels continue their four-match home stand Wednesday when they host No.-23 High Point at 7 p.m.
