KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan University men's soccer team had its best offensive performance in a 4-0 win over the St. Thomas Tommies.
The Broncos recorded their first hat trick in two years on Tuesday night in a massive non-conference win against St. Thomas. In the Tommie's first return to the WMU Soccer Complex since 2022, the Brown and Gold scored four times on five shots on net over 66 minutes of action.
Junior forward
Sahel Yessen had both his first goal of the season and his first career hat trick, marking the first triple score for Western Michigan since Carson Hodgeson's hat trick against Detroit Mercy in 2024. Leading scorer
Vitor Geromel had the Broncos second goal in the first half while three different players earned an assist.
"It was a great team performance tonight!" expressed Head Coach
Chad Wiseman after the match. "We scored four nice goals and were also able to secure the shutout."
WMU scored its fastest goal of the season to begin Tuesday night's match, striking in only the second minute. A penalty in the box by a Tommie gave the Brown and Gold their third straight penalty kick opportunity in as many matches. But unlike the last two, Western Michigan buried its opportunity as Yessen put his first goal of the season down in the left corner.
The Broncos doubled their lead only eight minutes later as Geromel had his sixth goal off an attacking zone throw in. Geromel got a quick cross at the front of the goal box from
Joseph Min to put the ball in the exact same spot of the net as the PK on a header. The assist was Min's first with WMU and his first helper in a year.
The Brown and Gold continued to dominate offensively in the first half, taking five more shots while keeping St. Thomas looks to chances wide of the net. Western Michigan's offense didn't slow down in the second frame with Geromel putting a shot on goal in the first minute. It wasn't long before the Broncos struck again as Yessen added a second goal in the 59
th minute.
The strike from just inside the 18 that put WMU up by three scores came from quick crosses up the field by Min and junior midfielder
Gabe Villagomez. The assists were Villagomez second of the season and Min's second of the match for the senior's first multi-point game in over a year. The Brown and Gold added the cherry on top a brief five minutes later as Yessen scored his third and final goal of the night.
"Sahel had himself a game," said Wiseman. "He was very dangerous on the ball and St. Thomas did not have any answer for him tonight."
The goal that completed Yessen's hat trick came from the left corner of the penalty box, landing right inside the right post. Geromel picked up his first assist of the season on the final goal to complete his three point performance. For the final 24 minutes of the match Western Michigan's defense kept the Tommies from spoiling the shutout, facing six shots. The Broncos were able to block a shot while redshirt senior goalkeeper
Alex Lindewirth made three saves in the last 18 minutes.
"We're in our best form of the season right now. We need to keep believing and working hard to keep this going."
WMU faces an emotionally charged match this weekend as the Evansville Purple Aces come to Kalamazoo. The rematch of the 2025 MVC Championship game is set for Sunday, October 11 as part of Western Michigan's Homecoming weekend. Kickoff from the Farm on Sunday night is set for 7 p.m.
