Ronaldo Green returned to game action with a hat-trick to help lead the University of The Bahamas Mingoes men's soccer team to a 4-1 victory over California Intercontinental University Falcons Thursday at the Roscow A.L. Davies Soccer Fields.
It was the first match of a two-match friendly between the two teams.
Forward Kevin Thomas was the other goalscorer for UB. Alex Thompson, head coach for UB said his team performed great.
"It is not always easy playing home especially when everyone in the stands know your name or know you personally," Thompson said. "Sometimes it is a bit easier playing away. Kudos to the team and coaching staff. We came up with a gameplan and we executed about 85 percent of it."
Green who is also the captain and a midfielder said that his team dominated.
"We did our job and as the game goes, we kept on finishing our chances. We had a shocker where they had a goal that brought them back in the game. We had to step up a bit and score two goals to kill the game.
It was a slow start for UB as they sat back to feel CIU out. Substitute Nahum Johnson came on and made a goal scoring run inside their opponent's 18-yard box but was fouled to win the penalty-kick. Green stepped up in the 35th minute and put away the penalty-kick to put his side up 1-0.
Nine minutes later, Green collected the ball on the throw-in and made his way into CIU's box to kick it past the goalkeeper and into the goal to put his side up 2-0 before half-time whistle blew.
Coming out of the half, UB conceded a goal in the 50th minute on a defensive blunder to give CIU the easy goal. UB led 2-1.
Green netted his hat-trick three-minutes later on a Clerdjivensky Clerjuste's pass to have the fans celebrating. He put UB back in the driver's seat with the 3-1 lead and a two-goal cushion.
"I am hungry for more goals and you can see I scored a hat-trick today. I haven't played for the past two months in a game and I came today hungry for goals."
Kevin Thomas joined the scoresheet on a Philip Pilgrim's pass in the 74th minute with a close range strike off his right foot. He put the game out of reach with the 4-1 lead.
Looking ahead to today's match, Thompson said they will look to be better finishing.
"We are going to watch the film and see where we can improve. I think we should have had a few more goal. We need to take some time to decompress and mentally prepare."
Green thanked the fans for showing up and hope to see more at the next game.
UB returns to action against CIU at 10 a.m. Friday, February 13 at the Roscow A.L. Davies Soccer Fields.