NEW YORK – Three members of the Columbia men's soccer team netted their first career goals in a 4-0 victory over Hofstra on a chilly night at Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium.
 
With the win, the Lions improve to 9-4-1 on the season, as only a pair of Ivy League matches remain on the 2018 slate.
 
In the opening minutes of the match, Sam Hatem made his way around the Hofstra defense and created enough space to fire a shot towards goal. His attempt made its way past Leonard Arkhanhelski, giving Columbia a 1-0 lead just 2:49 into the match.
 
After two shots were saved off the foot of Matthew Swain, the junior decided to get his teammate involved instead. Swain connected with Hatem in the 27th minute, as the junior scored his second goal of the match again just inside the right post, making it a 2-0 contest.
 
The first half scoring would not end there for the Lions. After a goal kick was gathered near the midfield stripe, Beto Carrillo sent a forward ball high in the air towards a streaking Lucho Gazcon. The sophomore would track down the ball from his classmate, then Gazcon would finish past Arkhanhelski for his first career score, making it 3-0 before the break.
 
Hatem and Gazcon were not the only Lions looking to get on the board for the first time, as many members of the team had strong looks in the second frame. Sile Ogundeyin, who saw his first career action, had a shot go wide and another saved in the opening minutes of the second half, before Rory Madigan had a strike bounce off the crossbar in the 63rd minute.
 
Carrillo tried to set up Hatem for what would have been a hat-trick in the 73rd minute, but the shot was blocked after the Hofstra defense scurried back to the box. A little over 10 minutes later, Columbia would break through again, this time from a third first-time scorer. Nick Marcin sent a cross into the box towards Gazcon, who let the ball go by when he was covered by a Pride defender. That ball would find the foot of Spiros Stamoulis, who sent a bending shot inside the left post for his first career score.
 
Hatem, Yiannis Kounelis, Madigan, Ogundeyin, and Pierce Pomykal all picked up their first career starts in the 4-0 victory, with Ridley Eastland-Fruit playing in his first career match for Columbia.
 
In goal, Dylan Castanheira had another stellar outing, stopping four shots in the shutout. The senior is now just one shutout away from tying the Ivy League record of 26 for his career with two matches remaining.
 
Columbia takes on Harvard this Saturday at 7:00 p.m., before a 1:00 p.m. showdown with Cornell on Saturday, November 10 in the season finale. Both matches can be seen live on ESPN+.