WINONA LAKE - Grace College’s men’s soccer team closed out the opening week of the season with an impressive 4-0 victory over Governors State on Saturday afternoon.
The Lancers were fueled by three goals from Martim Sequeira, who completed his second career hat trick and brought his career goal total to 35. Sequeira is now tied with former Lancer Ulisses Miranda for 10th all-time in career goal scoring at Grace.
The game opened up as a midfield battle with neither team even attempting a shot until 20 minutes had elapsed in the opening stanza. When a shot finally was tried towards goal, it came from the foot of Sequeira.
Daniel Santos Rosa directed a cross into the Jaguars box. After receiving the cross, Sequeira tried the shot towards the GSU net, but a desperation stretch from a Jaguars’ defender deflected the goal high of its mark.
Sequiera continued to be a menace towards the GSU defense, trying two more shots on goal that forced the Jaguar keeper to be at his best.
GSU’s best chance of the half came from a set-piece opportunity with 15-minutes left, but it was defended well by the Lancers and the ensuing shot was sent well wide of goal.
Just minutes later the Lancers broke the deadlock. Josh Cruz beat a defender to ball deep in Jaguars’ side of the field, and then found a streaking Sequeira who buried his first goal of the season.
Grace continued to pressure late, but was unable to add to their advantage and carried a 1-0 lead into the half. The Lancers held a 6-4 shot advantage and each team had one corner kick.
Grace wasted little time doubling their lead in the second, as the Lancers scored less than a minute into the action.
Santos Rosa played a beautiful give-and-go pass that left Sequiera clear of any GSU defenders. The senior forward then showed his class as he sliced a shot to the opposite corner of the net to move Grace’s lead to 2-0.
The middle portion of the half belonged to the Jaguars. Fueled by a sense of urgency to draw back within one, GSU outshot Grace 5-1 over the next 20 minutes, but was still unable to solve Matteo Conci.
With 12 minutes left in the game, the Lancers would take a stranglehold on the contest. Kyle Holwerda intercepted a Jaguars’ pass, then proceeded to dribble around the flailing keeper before putting the ball past one more GSU defender to expand the Lancer advantage to three goals.
Grace continued to press late and with 4:01 left, Sequeira found his hat trick marker. In Grace’s defensive end, Gavin Morgan hustled to keep the ball in play and it quickly found its way to Frederik Christmann.
Christmann then threaded a pass through a pair of defenders to Sequeira who confidently finished off the play with his third goal of the afternoon to secure the 4-0 win for Grace.
At the completion of the 90-minutes, Grace held a 15-9 shot advantage. Matteo Conci picked up his second clean sheet of the season.
The Lancers will now travel west as they test themselves against a trio of top-15 opponents. Grace will play No. 6 Mid-America Christian on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. before facing off with No. 15 MidAmerican Nazarene (Saturday) and No. 7 Missouri Valley (September 4).

No. 16 Grace Registers Road Win At Indiana Tech
FORT WAYNE - Grace’s women’s soccer team collected its first win of the season on Saturday.
The No. 16 Lancers shut out Indiana Tech 1-0 to pick up the road victory.
Amy Wearing provided the winning moment, blasting a strike past the Warriors’ goalkeeper in the early minutes of the second half.
Grace’s defense was stout, limiting the Warriors to just one shot attempt across the 90 minutes. Sofia Williams picked up the shutout as Grace’s goalkeeper without having to make a save.
The Lancers dominated the first half of play. Grace had three shots on goal in a 13-minute span midway into the half, including attempts from Abby Hodkin, Wearing and Feline Abbo.
With just a few minutes left in the half, Abbo nearly scored. After a patient buildup by Grace, Abbo drove a deep shot toward the Warriors’ goal which forced a leaping save from Tech’s goalkeeper.
Despite Grace holding an 8-0 advantage in shot attempts, the Warriors managed to keep the match scoreless through halftime. The Lancers also had the only five corner kick attempts of the half.
Grace’s winning moment came four minutes into the second half. Grace moved the ball deep into the Warriors’ end of the field.
Shannon Farnsworth maneuvered into the penalty box and passed to Rosalie Gefrorer, who moved the ball to Amy Wearing. Wearing took care of the rest, hitting a laser inside the far post for Grace’s first goal of the season.
Shot attempts were fewer after halftime, but it was still the Lancers who were firmly in control.
Grace’s possession created several threatening moments. Gefrorer had a low shot that was saved, and Wearing attempted a quick shot that sailed high of the goal.
Sam Vondersaar and Rylee Burns also tried shots as the half wore down.
Indiana Tech’s only shot attempt came in the 84th minute, a looped 35-yard attempt that sailed well off the mark.
Grace finished the match with a dominant 15-1 advantage in shots; seven of the Lancers’ shots were on goal. Grace also had all six corners.
Jasmin Slump, Leah Burke, Abbo, Megan DeBoest played key roles in Grace’s back line.
The Lancers are home for the first time next week. Grace will host a pair of matches, including Brescia on Thursday and Carolina on Saturday. Both matches at 1st Source Bank Field will kick off at 7 p.m.