Senior Ish Ghodbane's (St. Louis, Mo. Ladue Horton Watkins) first-career hat trick helped the Denison University men's soccer team knock off Hiram College, 5-2, in a key North Coast Athletic Conference match on Saturday afternoon.  With the win and losses by Oberlin and Allegheny, the Big Red earned the No. 3 seed in the NCAC Tournament.

Denison fell into an early hole when Hiram's Cole Miller notched an unassisted tally just one minute and 45 seconds into the match.  At 7:55, senior Lenny Mills (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) evened the match at 1-1 with an unassisted goal of his own.  The score was Mills' fourth of the season.

At the 20 minute mark, Denison took their only lead of the match when Ghodbane scored off an assist from rookie Bob Casarona (South Russell, Ohio/Chagrin Falls).  Right before the half, sophomore Ryan Torgersen (Spring, Texas/Klein) scored, what would prove to be the game-winning goal, at 42:17 off an assist from junior Chris Olson (Arlington Heights, Ill./Rolling Meadows).  At the half, the Big Red held a 9-5 advantage in shots.

The Terriers were able to trim the deficit to 3-2 in the 80th minute when Taylor Keifer logged an unassisted goal, however a pair of goals by Ghodbane in the 82nd and 90th minutes locked up the DU victory.

The Big Red outshot Hiram 19-8, including a 9-4 edge in shots on net.  They also attempted five corners compared to just one by the home team.  Rookie goalie Matt Wagner (Nicholasville, Ky./Lexington Catholic) stopped two shots en route to the win, while his counterpart Joe Tatum made four saves.

Denison improves to 9-7-1 overall and finishes with a 4-3-1 conference record, while Hiram falls to 6-12 and 3-5 in NCAC play.  DU, who earned the third seed in the NCAC Tournament via tiebreaker over the Gators and Yeomen, will open up tournament play at Kenyon College on Wednesday (Nov. 3) at 3 p.m.