DANVILLE, Va. ­­— N.C. Wesleyan College scored a pair of goals in each half en route to a 4-0 win over the Averett University men's soccer team on Friday night in the Cougars' conference opener.
 
N.C. Wesleyan (4-4-1, 2-0 USA South) came storming out of the gate early, recording six shots in the first six minutes. However, senior goalkeeper John Matrisciano came up with some huge saves for Averett (1-6, 0-1 USA South) to keep the Battling Bishops off the board. Despite Matrisciano's valiant efforts, N.C. Wesleyan was able to get on the score sheet when Thorfinnur Thorfinnsson found Sheriff Secka with a thru ball to the left to make the score 1-0. The Battling Bishops doubled their advantage at the 36:11 mark when Daniel Kamden buried his shot to give N.C. Wesleyan a 2-0 advantage. Averett came close to cutting its deficit in half in the 37th minute, but senior Justin Lloyd's attempt was denied by the Battling Bishops' goalkeeper Jesper Olsson, keeping N.C. Wesleyan ahead by two.
 
The Battling Bishops broke the game open twelve minutes into the second half when Thorfinnsson took a pass from Sebastian Wiiala and snuck his shot into the net, increasing the score to 3-0. Rounding out the scoring for N.C. Wesleyan was Egor Kabalin.
 
Offensively, the Cougars were led by Lloyd and freshman David Cuperman who chipped in with two shots apiece. Defensively, Matrisciano recorded seven saves on the evening.
 
Averett returns to action on Sept. 26 when it hosts Piedmont College at 4:30 p.m.