MORROW, Ga. – No. 19 Clayton State (5-1, 0-0 PBC) has played six games and allowed just two goals in 544 minutes of play following their commanding 3-0 victory over West Alabama (2-2, 0-0 GSC) in an NCAA Division II men's soccer game on Saturday, September 21.
 
Both teams would come out very active on the offensive end and produced a number of strong scoring chances, but it would be the Lakers that would break through in the 33^rd minute. That would come in the form of a touch pass from redshirt-freshman midfielder Olavo Guimaraes (Sao Paulo, Brazil) in the box to senior defender Ignacio Perez (Madrid, Spain), who then buried it deep in the back of the net for a 1-0 advantage at the 32:47 mark.
 
Once that cracked the UWA defensive wall Clayton State would take advantage before they could fix the damage. Less than two minutes later the Lakers would turn defense into offense as junior goalkeeper Theo Blachon (St. Etienne, France) belted a kick well across midfield to waiting sophomore forward Brad Kay (Manchester, England).
 
He then powered home his fourth goal of the year and gave Blachon his second assist from the keeper position. His other assist also went to Kay, that coming against Erskine on September 7. From there the clubs would head to the break with Clayton State up 2-0.
 
That would hold for the better part of 40 minutes but a defensive lapse combined with junior midfielder Mitro Turunen (Vantaa, Finland) taking advantage of an opportunity would lead to the Lakers third score of the night. Turunen collected a ball near midfield and then hit streaking freshman midfielder Geo Rios (Lawrenceville, Ga.) down the right sideline.
 
The speedy newcomer showcased that skill beautifully as he outpaced one defender, evaded another and rifled a ball from the right side to the top left corner to make it 3-0 with 82:03 gone by. From there the Lakers defense would secure their fourth shutout of the season, closing out the 3-0 victory.
 
Vince Stans registered three of the Tigers 11 shots on the night, putting a pair on net while Kyle McLeod matched the latter. Cosmas Uzoaru made an impressive 11 saves using an array of styles that showed he deserved a better fate than the one that saw him surrender three goals and fall to 2-1 on the year.
 
In the absence of redshirt-senior midfielder Ryan King (County Durham, England), the nation's leading scorer and point getter, the triumvirate of Perez, Kay and Rios led the way for Clayton State as they each drove home a score. Helping to make that effort possible were Blachon, Turunen and Guimares with an assist apiece.
 
Once again laying claim to potentially being one of the best keepers in the country, Blachon played all 90 minutes and delivered his fourth clean sheet behind five saves. The shutout ties him for the second most in the country and lowers his goals against average to a nearly imperceptible 0.33. To put that in perspective, he's allowed just two goals in 67 attempts to move to 5-1 this season.
 
Following the comforts of home for the past two games, the Lakers now hit the road for a season long three game road swing beginning at Shorter on Wednesday, September 24. Game time is set for 7 p.m. in Rome, Georgia.
 
NOTES
The matchup against Shorter will feature two of the highest scoring teams in the country with SU leading the nation in scoring offense (5.33), assists per game (1.2) and points per game (14.67) … the Lakers entered the evening as the 12^th highest scoring team in the nation (3.0), 10^th in total points and 22^nd in points per game … the meeting between West Alabama and Clayton State was the first in program history.

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