Goshen, IN — With a total 43 players listed on its official roster, there is no question that the Goshen College men’s soccer team has depth.

Thursday night against Moody Bible Institute, the program showed there is no shortage of talent down the charts, either.

With several of the squad’s household names sitting out the match to rest for the remaining Mid-Central Conference schedule, Goshen (7-4, 1-0) dealt the visiting Archers a 4-0 defeat, using a win-by-committee approach. All 24 dressed players received large sums of time on the field, and the ensuing result left head coach Tavi Mounsithiraj plenty happy.

“We had several changes in the line up tonight to give some of our regular starters a break,” Mounsithiraj said. “This was a great team effort. I was very happy with the way we came out and played this evening. We have a good deal of talent in our young guys, and they showed that tonight.”

It was apparent from nearly the outset of which way the game would go, as Goshen began with a flurry of offensive attacks that somehow did not yield a goal. Senior Ashe Abebe was the beneficiary of several pushes early on, missing a headed attempt at a score when the ball caromed off the cross bar and having a point-blank shot deflected at the last moment by the Moody keeper.

The Archers kept the scoreless tie for the majority of the first half despite an aggressive, ball-control offense from Goshen, thanks in part to solid defensive play and communication in the backfield. The law of averages caught up to the Archers just before halftime, however, as freshman Nick Good received a nice through ball from sophomore David Shenk and calmly placed the ball inside the far post to give Goshen a 1-0 lead going into the intermission.

With Mounsithiraj giving a pair of regular starters a turn at the outset of the second period — junior Tony Janzen and sophomore Cody Felton took a brief run at forwards — things got progressively more dire for Moody, as Felton and Janzen began to work in tandem almost immediately. Just five minutes in it was Felton taking a Janzen pass and blasting it into the back of the net; Felton then got credit for what looked to be a Jesse Woodworth (senior) score in the 61st minute, redirecting a hammered ball from Woodworth behind the Archers’ diving goalkeeper.

“We wanted to give Tony and Cody a little time up front, and it paid off almost immediately,” Mounsithiraj said. “Their speed and fresh legs were a lot to handle at that point.”

Goshen added an insurance goal with just five minutes remaining in the contest, when junior Nate Montiel headed home a pass sent into the six-yard box from freshman Reuben Stoltzfus. Mounsithiraj complimented the play of several of his reserve players, including senior Brandon Wengerd (one save) who took over for classmate Craig Welscott (two saves) in goal midway through the second half.

“I was pleased to see (junior) Benji Graber, (junior) Brad Graber, (sophomore) Rusty Emery and (freshman) Kyle Stiffney perform the way they did in the backfield,” Mounsithiraj said. “They all deserve credit for the shut out. I was also quite pleased with our first-years such as Stiffney, Nick Good, Reuben Stoltzfus, Jordan Delp, Alex Caskey, Jake Miller and Jesse Hyverly. All played quality minutes with the first team. This was a very good result for our team and hopefully this match will get us ready for another tough MCC contest this weekend.”

Goshen will travel to Taylor University on Saturday for a 4 p.m. match in Upland, Ind. An administrative error forced a postponement to what would have been the Leafs’ second MCC tilt of the year Tuesday afternoon at Spring Arbor University. League officials are looking into the error. A make-up date and location will be posted at this website once a decision and announcement has been made from league headquarters.