PURCHASE, N.Y. - The Purchase College men's soccer team gave its home crowd a lot to cheer for Wednesday night, as the Panthers scored five times en route to a shutout win over Baruch College to open the 2023 home slate.

With the win, the Blue and Orange moved to 1-1 overall. For the Bearcats, they dropped to 0-2.

The five goals were the most the squad had scored in a game since 2014, when they achieved the total twice, including during the Skyline Conference Semifinals against Sage College. 

Senior Leo Conte (New York, NY) got the action started, scoring in the ninth minute after Liam George (SO/Brooklyn, NY) and Ermin Mackic (FR/Yonkers, NY) set him up perfectly for the strike.

15 minutes later, George added his own goal off a feed from Conte to push the game to 2-0.

In the 36th minute, Mackic got in on the scoring frenzy, thanks to an assist from fellow freshman, Oliver Broun (Athens, GA).

The Panthers found so much success on offense in the first half, that even their defensive captain, Bart Moroney (JR/Breezy Point, NY) got one past the Baruch keeper.

At the halftime break, the hosts lead 4-0.

That score carried on for much of the second half until the 85th minute, when Broun added one last strike off a cross from George, pushing the margin to 5-0, where it eventually settled.

In total, the two sides each finished with 17 shots apiece, with corner kicks and fouls being nearly identical as well.

In goal, Jack Gjokaj (JR/Thronwood, NY) finished with four saves in the clean-sheet win.

Up next for the Panthers is a week of rest before they return at home against CCNY. That game is scheduled for September 13th at 7 p.m. and you can follow it here.