An 8AM kickoff. Too early?
 
Not even close.
 
Grand Canyon University Men's Club Soccer Team Purple waited nearly three weeks to take the pitch for its season opener, then showed how ready it was to get the campaign started with a 10-0 thrashing of the University of New Mexico Sunday morning at Colter Field on the GCU campus. A six-goal first half quickly ended the suspense about the outcome as the Lopes notched the first win of the career of new Lopes' Head Coach Luke Pilarski.
 
GCU's Roberto Perez proved to the crowd that an early Sunday morning start time was no problem as the Lopes took the opening kickoff, marched down the field and cashed it in off the foot of the Lopes' sophomore midfielder after just 40 seconds of play. The floodgates opened from there as Kyle Joyce, Collin Vilme, Ansu Kanneh, Joseph Butzke and Keegan Acres all joined Perez in celebrating scores before the half. The Lopes continued to spread the wealth in the final 45 minutes, getting goals from three sophomores: Luca Guera, Noah Wike and Dylan Orellana, who was the only Lope to find the net more than once on the day.
 
"How long we waited to play this first match made the outcome really special for the guys." said Pilarski. "The takeaway for me was just how many goal scorers we had, which speaks to the mindset and togetherness of the team. That's the way we wanted to start this out, and it was amazing for me to watch."
 
The Lopes' next time on the pitch will break the seal on the away side of their regular season schedule as they travel to Flagstaff this Sunday, September 21 to battle Northern Arizona University at 6PM. The Lopes and Lumberjacks will also be the matchup for GCU's next home clash on Saturday, October 4. Kickoff that night is also scheduled for 6PM at Colter Field, and admission to the match is FREE.