GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The No. 21 Davenport men's soccer team quickly erased a heartbreaking loss from last weekend and put together a show for the home crowd in the season's DU Turf Field opener against Holy Cross Wednesday night. Chase Burgess, Dzenan Catic and TJ Ifaturoti found the back of the net on more than one occasion as the Panthers ran away with an 8-3 victory over the Saints.
 
DU improves to 6-1-1 on the year and will continue the homestand with Huntington (Ind.) visiting Saturday at 7:30 p.m. It also marks the final match before the Panthers begin their Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference title defense.
 
In addition to the two goals on the evening, Catic also provided assistance to Ifaturoti's second goal early in the latter half.
 
Catic got the scoring barrage started in the ninth minute. After Tyler Fischer dribbled deep into the Saints (3-2-1) penalty box, he made a short pass to Catic on the left side where his shot went under Holy Cross keeper Iain McTurk and rolled into the net.
 
Both Burgess and Ifaturoti knocked in their first goals on the evening off a rebound in the ninth and 38^th minute, respectively, to give DU a 3-1 lead at intermission.
 
Although the Saints cut the lead down to one in the 54^th minute, Catic answered back three minutes later when he used excellent footwork to beat both a Saint defender and McTurk.
 
After stopping a Saint momentum, DU keeper Aaron Orban quickly sent the ball across midfield to Catic. Catic made one quick touch to Ifaturoti inside Holy Cross' goal box where he beat McTurk in the 63^rd minute. The Panthers took a 6-2 lead in the 80^th minute when Burgess knocked in a header off a corner kick by Dino Duratovic.
 
Emmanuel Gorh headed his first goal of the season off a deflection at 87:10 and an own goal 30 seconds later completed the 8-3 score.
 
Davenport dominated both the shooting department 29-8 and corner kicks 7-1.
 
Post-Match Notes
Davenport remains undefeated in its home openers, improving to 9-0-1…Dzenan Catic recorded his fourth multi-goal match of the season while Chase Burgess and TJ Ifaturoti both earned their first...DU wins the inaugural meeting with Holy Cross

Men's Soccer Contact: Aaron Sagraves | 616-554-5045 | asagraves@davenport.edu
DU Athletics: Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram
Men's Soccer: Facebook