FINAL SCORE: Earlham 3, Bluffton 0
LOCATION: Bluffton, Ohio (Sears Complex)
RECORDS: Earlham 2-3-0 / Bluffton 1-3-1

BLUFFTON, Ohio – Luc Cesar was the man of the match when he recorded a hat trick and led the Earlham College men's soccer team to a 3-0 road victory at Bluffton University on Wednesday, March 17 at Sears Complex.  Cesar connected on two goals in the first half and completed the hat trick early in the second half.

The win improves the Quakers record to 2-3-0 overall and 2-3-0 in HCAC play.  The loss drops Bluffton to 1-3-1 overall and in conference play. 

Earlham started the scoring off in just the 9^th minute when Andrew Belec found Cesar for the first goal that staked the Quakers to an early 1-0 lead.  Cesar scored his second goal in the 25^th minute when Drew Fitzgibbon picked out Cesar for a 2-0 lead at the time.  Cesar finished off his hat trick effort in the 53^rd minute when Ethan Getman connected on a nice assist.

"Our team played great and Luc had a wonderful day today.  Obviously every win is a team effort and I'm just happy the way our guys fought and played hard today and we got the result we were looking for," said head coach Aaron Gustine after the win.  "We executed the game plan and this will bring us some momentum heading into our Senior Night match."

Bluffton outshot Earlham 14-12 for the match and had 10 corner kicks to just three from Earlham.  Tyler Smith recorded a shutout in his second victory of the season as the goalkeeper by saving seven shots on goal.

Earlham men's soccer returns home on Saturday, March 20, when it hosts Franklin College in the first ever night soccer game in the history of Earlham College.  It is also Senior Night with kickoff set for 7:00 p.m. at Darrell Beane Stadium.