Both Goshen men’s and women’s soccer teams hit the road this past Saturday as the men picked up an impressive 3-0 advantage over Indiana University East, while the women fell to Rio Grande 3-0.

The Maple Leaf men extended their winning streak to five games on Saturday afternoon when they defeated IU East 3-0 at Centerville High School.

First-year forward Stuart Aeschliman struck first for Goshen (7-2) in the eighth minute on a shot from the left side of the 18-yard box off of a long through ball from sophomore Lucas Vilela.

Shortly thereafter, junior Nate Nussbaum sent a cross into the box where Ollie Smith, sophomore, played the ball, took a few dribbles and drove a low ball to Brodie Nofziger who directed the ball across the goal line for his first goal of his senior season.

“Obviously a big highlight for us was Brodie scoring his first goal,” said coach Arron Patrick. “He has worked so hard, and we have told him it would happen eventually. It’s hard to remain positive as a striker when you aren’t scoring, but Brodie has done an outstanding job. The guys celebrating when he scored said a lot about what they think of Brodie.”

Aeschliman added his name to the scoring column again in the 78th minute off of a long through ball by sophomore TJ White.

Aeschilman outpaced his defender to the ball once again and found the back of the net for his team leading eighth goal of the season.

The pair of goals for Aeschliman and two consecutive shutouts from junior goalie Johan Escalante this week earned the two conference honors this week with Aeschliman snagging Crossroads League Offensive Player of the Week and Escalante the CL Defensive Player of the Week. The awards were the second on the season for each player.

“The second half was a bit more sloppy, but we got the third goal, and from that point it became a job of game management,” Patrick said.

“We made a lot of subs and got everyone some decent minutes, so to end the game winning 3-0 was great.”

The GC women were also on the road Saturday afternoon for a non-conference match against the University of Rio Grande. Two quick goals in the first half from Peyton Davis and a third from Daniella DeSousa of Rio Grande proved more than enough to top Goshen 3-0.

Goshen (3-4-1) took four of their seven shots in the game between the 15th and 25th minutes, only to see netminder Andrea Vega save two while the others missed high and wide.   

Kadie Spoor registered six saves in the game and Vera saved three.

Goshen returns to action on its home field next Saturday for its Crossroads League opener, taking on Huntington University at 4 p.m. before the men host Saint Francis at 7.