Shafer's hat trick leads Jimmies to 6-0 win over Tigers

Aug. 28—LA CROSSE, Wi. — If there were any worries about the University of Jamestown after their first game, Austin Shafer has helped alleviate all of those concerns on Sunday, Aug. 28, at the V-Hawks Soccer Field. Shafer scored a hat trick to help the Jimmies get a 6-0 win over the Dakota Wesleyan Tigers (0-2-1).

Jimmies head coach Connor Campbell said his pregame message was all about worrying about what they can do.

"It was all focused around playing our game and to be aware of what opponents want to do but to not compromise how we want to play and what we're capable of in the process," Campbell said.

It didn't take long for the Jimmies (1-1) to get on the board as with 38:14 minutes to go in the first half, they drew a corner. The corner was taken by Frankie Parkinson who sent it to the far post where Caden Williamson was there to poke home his first career goal and put the Jimmies up 1-0.

"We knew we were capable of being a strong offensive team," Campbell said. "But knowing something and actually experiencing it are two different things and I think it creates good belief from the timing of the goal to the type of goal as well as the person who scored."

Less than a minute later, the Jimmies Axcele Biteghe got dragged down 20 yards from the goal, giving the Jimmies a free kick. The free kick was taken by Parkinson, who sent a missile past the Tigers goalie Garrett Douglas to make it 2-0. The Jimmies kept the pressure up drawing another corner with 34:14 to go in the first half where Parkinson sent the ball in before it bounce to Jacob Holtz at the top of the box who sent the ball into the upper 90 to make it 3-0. The Jimmies were not done in the first half as they got a fortunate bounce right to Austin Shafer who took two dribbles and scored on his off foot to make it 4-0 with 22:03 to go in the first half.

The score stayed that way until there was just under 11 minutes to go and Biteghe got bowled over in the box drawing the penalty. Shafer grabbed the ball, put it down on the spot, and sent it into the bottom left corner of the net to make it 5-0. Shafer would score his first career hat trick with less than a minute to go in the game when he cleaned up a rebound to push the lead out to 6-0.

"I would say the guys around me for sure," Shafer said. "They definitely put in a lot of the work for me. I just tried to put the ball in the net of course. Frankie was excellent, Jake was excellent, a lot of them did more than their share for sure. They ended up giving me the ball and helping a lot to score."

Shafer's three goals almost matches his totals of six from his previous four years at Montana-State Billings.

The Jimmies return to the field at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 2, when they go to the Oregon Institute of Technology.

UJ 6, DWU 0

UJ: 4 2 — 6

DWU: 0 0 — 0

Scoring Plays:

First half:

UJ: Caden Williamson, 6:50

UJ: Frankie Parkinson, 7:49

UJ: Jacob Holtz, 10:46

UJ: Austin Shafer, 22:58

Second half:

UJ: Shafer, 78:58

UJ: Shafer, 89:26