On a rainy, slippery field at the Jephson Community Athletic Complex, the Keuka College men's soccer team got two goals from junior Nate Smith (Rochester, NY/Hilton), and sophomore Mel Rogers (Geneseo, NY/Geneseo) added a goal as the Storm dominated Hilbert College 3-0 Monday night.

Smith has now scored three goals in the Storm's (2-0) first two games. Rogers finished the scoring with an unassisted goal in the 63rd minute, getting past two defenders before ripping a shot high over goalie Kamil Cislak's head for his first goal of 2011, and second of his Keuka career.

The teams played a scoreless first 43 minutes, with each squad having chances to get on the board first. In the 29th minute, Hilbert's Edward Sarcione made a move near the box and lofted a shot towards junior goalie Derek Condon (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas). Condon leapt to challenge the shot, but the ball was over his head. Fortunately for Condon, the shot struck off the top of the crossbar and was deflected away from goal, and the game remained scoreless.

With six minutes remaining in the half, sophomore Nate Schreiber (Rochester, NY/Hilton) took a corner kick and played the ball into the box for Smith, but his shot was saved.

Exactly four minutes later, the Storm finally broke through. Rogers flicked a ball into the box for Smith, who was charging hard from the far sideline. Smith received the ball and booted his shot towards the near post for his second goal in as many games in the 2011 season.

"Scoring like that was a huge swing in momentum for us. Afterwards, we were all motivated to go out there and win even more and we really took it to them," Smith said after the first two-goal game of his Keuka career.

"Mel was a magician out there tonight, he set me up in a place where I'm wide open for a good goal. He couldn't have put me in a better position to score."

Leading 1-0 heading into the second half, Smith extended the Keuka advantage to 2-0 in the 54th minute. Junior John Mastrella (Rochester, NY/Greece Athena) played a ball into a wide-open Smith outside of the box. Wasting no time, Smith dribbled around the goalie and scored into the upper portion of the net to provide the Storm with some breathing room.

Ten minutes later, Rogers got into the scoring act to make it a three-goal game.

While it wasn't a flawless game, head coach Matt Tantalo said he was impressed with his team's composure, especially in the second half, something that wasn't the case during Keuka's season-opening 2-1 overtime win over the University of Pittsburgh-Bradford.

"In difficult conditions like these, we had to play to feet, and while we struggled early on, offensively we got settled in and became more effective on our counter attacks," said Tantalo, Keuka's seventh-year head coach.

"Nate had a very strong match for us and his work rate provided a big boost for the rest of the team. He helps increase the skill level of the players around him, and on his second goal, Nate was just brilliant and explosive in the attacking third."

Condon finished with a career-high nine saves while Rogers added a goal and an assist for the Storm.

The Storm return to action with a pair of North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) road games this weekend, taking on Penn State-Berks at 1 p.m. Saturday, and Penn State-Abington at noon on Sunday. The Storm's next home game is at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 14 when D'Youville comes to campus.