BRISTOL, Tenn. – It didn't take the King University men's soccer team long to show their offensive presence on Wednesday afternoon as they returned to Conference Carolinas play against Belmont Abbey College at Parks Field. Chris Hicks doubled his goal count for the season, netting all three of King's goals in the 3-1 win over the Crusaders to move to 2-0 in league play.

The Tornado (4-4, 2-0 CC) earned a pair of corner kicks and placed a couple shots high in the first seven minutes before Hicks broke through with his first tally of the contest in the eighth minute. The ball deflected off a Belmont Abbey  defender in the right corner, and the Gloucester, England native picked up the ball as the goalkeeper charged. Hicks made a move to clear the keeper and placed his shot, from a sharp angle into the left side of the net.

King continued to pressure, placing two more shots on goal before Hicks struck again in the 18th minute. This time he took a pass from Eli Carrasco and cleared a Crusader defender at the right side of the six yard box and ripped his shot back across past the keeper to the lower left corner.

Belmont Abbey (2-4-2, 1-2 CC) had a chance to get on the scoreboard as Jordan Gardner took a free kick from 20 yards out that was close, but it hit the crossbar to keep the Tornado lead at 2-0. The Crusaders got on the board in 26th minute when the Tornado had a lapse on the defensive end. A King turnover left the ball on Jordan Gardner's foot, and he found Declan McQuillan who beat Kari Sveinsson to the lower right hand part of the net to cut the Crusader deficit to one.

The score remained the same, and King stretched their lead back to two in the 58th minute when Carrasco forced a Crusader turnover and found Hicks in the middle of the box. Hicks then buried his shot in the upper left 90 out of the reach of the Crusader defender for the hat trick.

From there on, the Tornado only allowed one Crusader shot, and a pair of corner kicks to take their second Conference Carolinas win in as many games. King outshot the Crusaders 21-8 in the contest, including a 9-1 margin in the second half. The Tornado took all four of their corner kicks in the first half while the Crusaders ended with three corner kicks.

King will be in action again on Saturday afternoon when they host Conference Carolinas foe North Greenville University at 3:00 p.m., at Parks Field.

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