BUCKHANNON, Pa. – The Gannon men's soccer team has shown that it can be an explosive scoring squad, and the Golden Knights proved it again in the second half on Wednesday afternoon.
 
Coach Billy Colton's Gannon team scored four unanswered goals in the second half after trailing 1-0 at halftime as the Knights defeated West Virginia Wesleyan 4-1 in a non-conference game at Culpepper Stadium.
 
Gannon, ranked No. 16 in NCAA Division II, was coming off a 7-0 victory over Lock Haven on Saturday. Six of those goals came in the second half as the Knights have now combined for 10 second-half goals in the past two games.
 
RJ Benedict (Edinboro, Pa./General McLane) scored twice as Gannon improved to 6-2-2 overall. West Virginia Wesleyan dropped to 3-6-1.  
 
 
How it happened:
 
Gannon managed just three shots in the first, including none on goal. WVW had five shots, including a goal by Dillon Rajkovic at the 20:37 mark of the first half.
 
The score stayed 1-0 until 13 minutes into the second half. That's when Gannon freshman Per Kristian Lauvstad (Nesoya, Norway/) emerged from a scrum in front of the net, gathered the ball, and chipped a shot into the left side of the goal.
 
Lauvstad then teamed with Benedict for the go-ahead score when Lauvstad sent a crossing pass from the left side of the box to the right, where Benedict tipped it into the net for a 2-1 lead.
 
Gabriel Delin (Stockholm, Sweden/Solna Gymansium) struck for Gannon's third goal when he made a series of nice moves and beat the WVW keeper from the right side at the 70:09 mark. The play was made possible by a James Pool (Hastings, England/Claverham) steal of a pass in the middle of the field.
 
Benedict capped the scoring when he took a pass on the left side from Sverre Orten (Orsta, Norway/Aalesund vgs) and sliced across the middle before beating the keeper with a shot inside the right post. Orten was awarded an assist on the play.
 
By the numbers:
 
Gannon has now scored at least four goals in each of its six wins.
 
Despite having just three shots in the first half, Gannon finished with 12 second-half shots, including 11 shots on goal.
 
Benedict, a redshirt senior forward, now has four goals in his past five games. He earned the first game-winning goal of his collegiate career.
 
Gannon goalie Andre Moraes (Sao Bernardo do Campo, Brazil/Colegio Singular) earned the win, playing all 90 minutes and making four saves.
 
 
What's ahead:
 
Gannon will visit PSAC East opponent West Chester on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.