ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. (Sept. 26, 2024) - Junior Kade Stover notched his first career hat trick on Thursday night with three goals, including two big ones in the second half, which helped lead the Buena Vista men's soccer team to a strong 5-3 non-conference road win at Crown College.

Stover, who entered the day with four career goals, nearly doubled the total in just one contest. Three minutes after Crown took a 1-0 lead, he pulled the Beavers even with his second goal of the year during the 22'. Crown followed up three minutes later and regained a 2-1 advantage before freshman Ben Jackson came through with his team-leading sixth goal of the year at the 29 minute mark that made it 2-2 at the half.

Junior Kendall Bickford gave BVU its lead back with his fourth goal this season six minutes into the second half, and that's how things stood until Stover added a key insurance goal during the 66' to extend the cushion to 4-2. Crown tried to mount a rally and got within 4-3 just over 12 minutes left to play, only to have Stover cap-off the hat trick with the final goal at the 81'.

Stover ended the night with seven total shot attempts with five being on-goal. Jackson, along with senior Caleb Swanson, turned in four attempts while each had three shots-on-goal. All three of Bickford's attempts came on-goal. The Beavers turned in 19 shots in all with 15 on target.

Crown turned in 14 total shots with 10 on-goal. Zachary Sigler hung tough in front of the net and made seven saves while going the distance.

Buena Vista improves to 7-2 on the year while Crown dips to 3-4. The Beavers return home to begin American Rivers Conference play on Saturday, Sept. 28, against Loras College at 7:30 p.m.