With goals from five first-year team members, the Knights ran away with an 8-0 shutout win over the Oak Hills Christian College Wolfpack in a DIII nonconference men’s soccer game at the MLC Soccer Pitch.

Freshman Adam Wietzke led the way for the Knights, finding the back of the net twice, while freshmen Joshua Krenke, Evan Wolfgram, Carson Mattek and Owen Schultz each had a goal. Juniors Owen Heiman and Chandler Ross also each had a goal for the Knights.

For Wolfgram, Mattek and Schultz, their goals were extra special as they were the trio’s first career college goals.

MLC’s freshmen goal scorers come from all around the US, with Krenke, Schultz and Wolfgram calling Wisconsin home. Mattek hails from Willis, Texas, while Wietzke is from Pueblo West, Colorado.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Martin Luther College’s Louis Schultz battles Oak Hills Christian’s Deacon Bock for the ball during a DIII nonconference men’s soccer game on Wednesday at the MLC Soccer Pitch in New Ulm.

“We’re a special school, we train for ministry, pastors and teachers, so it’s just wonderful that there are guys from all over the country that want to do that,” MLC associate men’s soccer coach Nicolas Schmoller said. “We have a lot of freshmen, yesterday even against Bethany, started five, and they are all stepping up into the momentum. Even today, the guys that were out there that didn’t see the field yesterday stepping into the moment and doing well is a fun thing to see as a coach.”

Wednesday’s shutout performance was just what the Knights needed after a 2-0 loss to Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato on Tuesday.

Getting more freshmen onto the pitch wasn’t a difficult thing for the Knights to do as they built a 4-0 lead at halftime. MLC goalies Nicholas Russ and Joshua Kallies split time in net and didn’t have much to do but watch their teammates dominate time of possession, not allowing the Wolfpack to register a single shot.

The Knights, meanwhile, got off 70 shots and 31 on goal.

Krenke scored first for MLC in the 15th minute of play on an assist from Johannes Bourman before the Knights went ahead 2-0 a minute later on an unassisted goal from Wolfgram. In the 21st minute, MLC took a 3-0 lead on an unassisted goal from Heiman. The Knights got off 11 more shots after that before scoring again in the 43rd minute on an unassisted goal by Ross.

Eli Stern’s cross in the 57th minute was put in the net by Mattek for a 5-0 lead. Schultz scored unassisted in the 68th minute for a 6-0 MLC lead before Wietzke scored his first goal of the day in the 81st minute for a 7-0 lead. Wietzke scored his second goal of the day in the final minute on assists from Yile Xu and Manuel Iglesias.

“We have a deep roster that even in our practices, it’s great competition for guys that are playing lots of minutes in conference games and aren’t,” Schmoller said. “So we have good, quality players here. We said to them, ‘When you’re out there on the field, it’s your time to show us what you can do,’ and I think they took that to heart. Whenever you’re on there, whoever the opponent is, you want to give it your best and show what you can do.”

The Knights (2-6-1) will resume play in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference at 4:30 p.m. Saturday when they travel to take on Crown College.