MINNEAPOLIS -- Christopher Plaza Alvarado (SO, New Brighton, Minn./St. Anthony Village HS) scored three goals in an 10:27 span in the first half, and Carver Tierney (SR, Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo HS) scored four goals with an assist in a 7:20 span in the second half, as the Augsburg University men's soccer team sprinted to a 9-0 nonconference victory over Linfield University on Sunday afternoon at Edor Nelson Field.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Augsburg 9, Linfield (Ore.) 0
LOCATION: Edor Nelson Field, Minneapolis
RECORDS: Augsburg 2-0-0 overall, Linfield 0-2-0 overall

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Plaza Alvarado, who scored two goals in 21 games for the Auggies last season, scored his first goal in the 24th minute from Asher Johnson (JR, Waconia, Minn./Waconia HS), then scored from Gideon Lubin (FY, Princeton, N.J./West Windsor-Plainsboro North HS) in the 32nd minute and from Remus Repcak (JR, Tualatin, Ore./Tualatin HS) and Cole Pettit (JR, Milwaukee, Wis./Nicolet HS) in the 35th minute, giving the Auggies a 3-0 halftime lead.
• Tierney, who scored four goals with two assists for 10 points in 35 games in his prior three seasons at Mercyhurst (Pa., 2024) and St. Thomas (2022-23), doubled his career goal total in a 7:20 span in the second half, scoring goals in the 48th, 49th, 52nd and 55th minutes, while assisting on a goal from Mizael Harris (SR, Happy Valley, Ore./La Salle Catholic College Prep HS) in the 53rd minute. Mitchel Munzing (SR, Portland, Ore./Grant HS) assisted on two of Tierney's goals, with Harris and Caleb Ibarra (FY, Anoka, Minn./Champlin Park HS) assisting on the other goals.
• Dailan Bangu (SO, Mankato, Minn./Mankato East HS), a transfer from Upper Iowa, scored his first collegiate goal, assisted by Chakong Vang (JR, St. Paul, Minn./Central HS) in the 84th minute to cap the Auggie scoring.
• Augsburg outshot Linfield by a 19-11 margin and held a 56-to-44-percent possession advantage in the game.
• Christian Hodges (FY, New Albany, Ohio/Tree of Life Christian School) had one save for his second straight shutout in goal.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
• The game marked the first time that two Augsburg players had hat tricks in the same game since a 9-0 win at North Central (Minn.) on Oct. 18, 2022, when Harris scored four goals and Kebba Janneh scored three goals.

QUOTES FROM AUGSBURG COACH GREG HOLKER
• "I don't think any of us were expecting that outburst to start the second half, but I know Carver needed it just to get himself back on track with what he knows he is capable of. Four goals in six minutes is pretty insane. Prior to that, Chris Plaza Alvarado turned the game on its head with three quick goals in just over 10 minutes prior to the halftime break, so we were in a good position already. I was happy with the discussion in the locker room at halftime, as it was clear the guys were not going to play the result out. They wanted more."
• "It was good to get a lot of younger players a lot of minutes, and they kept the tempo up and kept attacking while keeping a clean sheet. Gideon, Dailan and Caleb all got on the scoresheet while Jackson Lindsey and Oliver Connor made their collegiate debuts."
• "Overall it was a good weekend for us taking maximum points. We did pick up a few knocks which we will have to monitor and bring along slowly - nothing major, but enough to change the starting lineup as we move forward."

FOR THE FOES
• Jacob Toves had one save in 55 minutes for Linfield, with Colby Reese recording four saves in 35 minutes of relief.

UP NEXT
• Augsburg hosts Northwestern University-St. Paul in a nonconference game on Wednesday (9/3) at 7:30 p.m. at Edor Nelson Field.