BABSON PARK, Fla. (September 30, 2020) – For the first time so far in 2020, the Webber International University men's soccer team played on the Warrior Turf Field, and it finished with a very special day for senior David Negrin Ruiz, who recorded his first career hat trick to lead the Warriors to a 3-1 victory over Ave Maria University on Wednesday.

In addition to being the first match played on the Warrior Turf Field for Webber (2-4 overall, 1-3 The Sun Conference), it was the first road match of the season for Ave Maria (2-3, 1-2), which fell below .500 both overall and in the conference.

After Negrin Ruiz scored the first goal of the match with a well-placed shot into the bottom left-hand corner of the goal off the assist from Zachary Auger in the 33rd minute, Ave Maria answered with the tying goal off a free kick leading to a header in the 40th minute to make it 1-1 at halftime.

Then in the 60th minute, Prince James assisted on Negrin Ruiz's second goal, which would prove to be the game winner as he curled the ball beautifully into the top right-hand corner of the goal.

The final tally of the match for Negrin Ruiz came via a penalty kick in the 73rd minute.

As a team, Webber finished with only six total shots while Ave Maria finished with 12 total shots, but all of the Warriors' attempts on goal went in while three of the Gyrenes' four shots on goal were saved by Alex Marciulonis.

Negrin Ruiz finished with four of Webber's six shots while Andy Obregon and Matt King had the Warrors' other two attempts.

"I am very proud of our second-half performance today," spoke the Webber Head Coach Neil Cockburn. "The Gyrenes came out fired up in the first half, and our game plan did not go as we wanted it to, however, the lads showed in the second half that they can adapt positionally and tactically. We had some great individual performances from Matt King and hat trick hero David Negrin Ruiz winning the match ball."

The Warriors will now turn their attention to a matchup with their Crooked Lake rival Warner University at 7 p.m. on the evening of Saturday, October 3, in Lake Wales, Florida. Last season in 2019, Webber defeated Warner twice, first in a 2-1 win at home and then in a 3-0 shutout on the road to win the Crooked Lake Cup for the first time since 2016.