Sasaki's hat trick powers Mustangs

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- Mount Mercy's Yu Sasaki scored three times during a 20-minute span that encompassed both halves, powering the Mustangs to a 6-0 defeat of intra-city rival Coe on Sunday night at Hadzic Field at the Robert W. Plaster Athletic Complex.

Mount Mercy will take an overall mark of 2-0-0 into a non-conference road test at St. Ambrose on Saturday in Davenport. Kickoff is slated for 6:00 pm. The Mustangs are back at home for their final two non-conference matches. They host Iowa Wesleyan on Tuesday, Sept. 7, at 6:00 pm and Hannibal-LaGrange on Saturday, Sept. 11, at 4:30 pm.

Mount Mercy dominated possession against Coe and recorded 23 total shots, including 15 on goal. Maxwell Twight of the Kohawks made nine stops. On the home side, goalkeeper Jose Perez Piqueras shook off two scary collisions in the box to record a clean sheet while recording one save.

Sasaki, who tallied a goal and an assist in Mount Mercy's 2-0 season-opening win at St. Francis on Thursday, scored the Mustangs' first three goals against the Kohawks. Jonah Dancer assisted the first in the 27th minute, Manuel Prieto set up the second in the 36th minute, and Oguzhan Bozkan assisted goal number three in the 48th minute. Bozkan converted a penalty kick about a minute later, then Diego Lopez scored in the 70th minute before assisting a Jake Cawkwell goal to close the scoring in the 90th minute.