COLCHESTER, Vermont -
Max-Paul Busnel made history in a flash, scoring the fastest hat trick in an NCAA Division II men's soccer game to propel the American International College men's soccer team to a 4-0 win over Saint Michael's College in Northeast-10 Conference play on Saturday, October 17.
AIC is now 7-4-3 overall with a 4-2-1 NE10 record.
The Yellow Jackets wasted no time in getting on the board, scoring on the first shot of the game. Gonçalo Nolasco played a deep ball in to
Sandro Alvarez Jimenez, who quickly fired a cross left-to-right to
Tomos Shyamapant for a back-post one-timer tally at 9:24, his fifth of the season.
As it turned out, that was the only shot on target for the half for AIC, but a pair of Javier Solá Martínez stops kept his team ahead 1-0 at halftime.
Early in the second half, however, Busnel caught fire.
Liam Smith dished a pass to Busnel at the top of the 18-yard box, and Busnel cut to his left before firing an off-balance left-footed strike back inside the right post at 50:29 for his fourth of the season.
Nolasco then headed a clearing pass from the Purple Knights to Smith, springing him between defenders on the left side of the field. He took one dribble before feeding Busnel, who cut between the two center backs and blasted in his fifth of the season from the penalty spot at 52:03.
Busnel capped the hat trick less than a minute later, as he headed a
Marco Cabrera cross from the right side back to the right post again for his sixth of the season at 52:47.
The three tallies in 2:18 shattered the previous record for fastest hat trick in NCAA Division II history, set by Andre Francois of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside on August 28, 2004, when he scored three times in a 2:52 span.
Solá Martínez took it from there, with two more saves for a four-save shutout, his sixth of the season. His nine career shutouts place him second in AIC men's soccer history, trailing only his goalkeeper coach, Lucas Morales-Fernandez.
AIC has two NE10 contests remaining, both at home; the Yellow Jackets will next host Southern Connecticut State University on Wednesday, October 21 at 6:00 p.m.
