The Oglethorpe men's soccer team jumped all over the visiting Millsaps Majors from the very first kick of the ball Friday night at the Oglethorpe Track and Field and did not let up. They scored four goals in the first half en route to thrashing the Majors 8-1. The result gave the Stormy Petrels 13 points (4-0-1) through five SAA games, putting them five ahead of second-place Centre, who has eight points through four games (2-0-2). It also extended Oglethorpe's seven-game unbeaten run, as well as their six-game winning streak, and brought their overall record to 10-2-1.

The Petrels got a pair of hat tricks in the contest, as both junior midfielder Topher Marshall and junior forward Ryan Marcano had outstanding games. They now sit tied atop the league leaderboard with 10 goals apiece on the season. Marcano fired five shots over the course of the game while Marshall scored on each of his three shot attempts.

The Petrels put Millsaps under pressure right away, and it paid off early. They forced a turnover in the Major penalty box in the fourth minute. Junior midfielder Topher Marshall collected the ball and proceeded to dance around several defenders before delivering a beautiful strike from the edge of the area, floating it over the outstretched arm of Millsaps goalkeeper Alfie Miller and into the net for a quick 1-0 lead. They continued to push for more and got it in the 19th minute, when they won a free kick just outside the box. Sophomore forward Gabriel Alvarez stepped up and delivered a perfect free kick that deflected off Miller's fingertips and into the upper-right corner of the net, making it 2-0. 

Oglethorpe continued to pour it on in the 21st minute, when a perfect cross from Alvarez found the foot of Marcano in the box. The Petrel striker redirected it into the goal for a 3-0 Oglethorpe advantage with barely 20 minutes gone. Not even three minutes later, things got worse for the visitors, as they conceded a penalty kick. Marshall stepped up and blasted it home for his second goal of the game in the 23rd minute, making it 4-0. 

The Petrels held that lead into the halftime break, but came back with more early in the second half. In the 49th minute, senior Petrel goalkeeper Luke Whelan made an excellent save, and the rebound from that started an Oglethorpe breakaway on the other end, which Marcano finished for his second goal of the game. Less than a minute later, Marcano found himself on another breakaway and he scored again, securing his hat trick and giving Oglethorpe a 6-0 lead. Marshall completed his hat trick with an unassisted goal in the 57th minute, then freshman forward Gilberto Ramos tallied his first career goal, whipping in a wicked shot from the edge of the box past the Millsaps goalkeeper, finishing the Oglethorpe scoring and making it 8-0 in the 64th minute. 

Millsaps ended the Oglethorpe clean sheet with a cross that resulted in a Petrel own goal in the 87th minute, but the damage was more than done by that point.

The Petrels outshot Millsaps 23-5 for the game overall, including a 15-3 mark in shots on goal. They also took five corner kicks to the Majors' two. 

"I'm really proud of the way the guys performed today," said Oglethorpe head coach Jon Akin. "We came out and pressured them early, converted on almost all of our chances in the early part of the game, and really put it away before they even had a chance to get settled in. We're really finishing well right now, and hopefully that'll carry over into our next game on Sunday."

The Petrels welcome Birmingham-Southern, currently third in the SAA, to the Oglethorpe Track and Field at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. After that, they'll host a nationally-ranked Emory team on Wednesday at 7 p.m.