PENSACOLA, Fla. -
Antoine Marques commanded the night with three goals as the Eagles handled Pensacola Christian 4-0 Saturday night on the road. The hat trick was the first since
Sam Kelly's national player of the week performance against Brewton-Parker in the 2020-21 season and the first on the road since 2018 when Augusto Camara scored all three goals against Fisk.
After his first shot was saved, Marques put three more on target, all of which found twine. In the 13th minute, high pressure from
Adrien Alexandre and
Gabriel Dias sprung the ball to Dias who passed the French striker into space in the box where he applied the bottom right corner finish. In the 85th minute,
Caden Maldonado won a header atop the box and found Marques in space on the left where he picked out the bottom right corner of the goal again. In the dying embers of the match in the 90th minute,
Landon Faison lofted a through ball past the back line where Marques took a first touch around the keeper and rolled the ball into the open net.
Marques's early tally was the only mark in the first half and the second half sparked by
Matheus Rodrigues who lit a left footed rocket from 25 yards out to the left side netting in the 48th after
Thiago Micki found him near the top of the penalty arch.
The offensive output was backed by a stellar defensive showing, holding the hosting Eagles to just two shots while giving
Nic Fischer a goalkeeping clean sheet the easy way with no shots on target.
Faulkner turns its attention to No. 12 Georgia Gwinnett Saturday Sept. 17. The Grizzlies are 5-0-1 and will likely climb the polls more in Wednesday's Top 25. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. central.
