By Andrew Parente

The men’s soccer team put forth another dominating effort Sunday afternoon, defeating Columbia 4-0 at Parsons Field in the first ever meeting between the two teams.

Senior forward Ahmed Talaat led the way with two goals and sophomore goalie Mahmoud Talaat made two saves to record the Huskies second shutout in as many games. Senior forward Greg Kilkenny and junior midfielder Lewis Ehrlich also tallied one goal each.

NU, who was shutout in its first three games of the season, has now scored four goals in back-to-back games and saw plenty of offense from the team’s seniors up front.

“Ahmed Talaat is just having a phenomenal senior year for us,” said assistant coach Adam Pfeifer. “He creates so many problems for other teams when he is on the field. Ahmed and Greg [Kilkenny] work tremendously well together. They complement each other very well out there.”

Talaat recorded his first goal of the contest in the game’s fourth minute when he took the ball into the box and beat two defenders before putting it past Lions goalie Michael Testa. The goal gave the Huskies an early 1-0 advantage.

The score remained that way until the 29th minute when junior defender Jonathan Batista fired a shot that was initially blocked by Testa, but Talaat was there to collect the rebound and give NU a 2-0 lead.

The momentum shifted back and forth for the remainder of the half and the Huskies entered the locker room on top.

The pace remained the same for the start of the second half until the Huskies’ next tally in the 56th minute.

Kilkenny controlled the ball as he cut across the field before firing a laser shot into the upper right corner of the net from 25 yards out, making the score 3-0.

“I got the ball and I just hit it,” Kilkenny said. “It was just a really good strike.”

Kilkenny didn’t wait long before helping with the Huskies’ final tally. Just 22 seconds later, Kilkenny carried the ball down the right sideline before sending a perfect cross to Ehrlich who had no problem finding the net for his first goal of the year.

“I could hear Lewis screaming for it,” Kilkenny said. “I sent it across and it was an easy finish.”

The Huskies improved its record to 2-3 in the young season while Columbia dropped to 0-4.

The Huskies will look to continue their recent success when they take on Holy Cross at 3 p.m. tomorrow at Parsons Field.