SAN DIEGO – Senior Miguel Berry scored two goals and added an assist while Jimmy Ryan and Alex Churness contributed goals to lead No. 23 San Diego men's soccer to a 4-0 win over San Francisco in the WCC opener on Saturday at Torero Stadium.
 
The Toreros (9-1-1, 1-0 WCC) blanked the Dons (2-7-1, 0-1 WCC) for their seventh shutout of the season as well as scored four goals for the second game in a row. The win gives USD a victory in its WCC opener for the fifth time in the last six seasons.
 
Berry scored his career-high ninth and 10th goals of the season to lead the Torero offensive output. However, like Berry, Ryan and Churness scored a goal for the second straight game as the Toreros scored four goals in back-to-back contests for the first time since 1999.
 
"The thing we've talked about is relieving the pressure off (Berry)," said USD head coach Brian Quinn. "You can't just rely on him if you want to have an opportunity to win the conference or make the NCAA Tournament. The deeper you get into the conference, the teams are more sophisticated. Even tonight, everyone was honing in on Miguel and that's why other people had to step up and make plays in the game. (Ryan) and (Churness) scoring goals in consecutive games, that's pleasing to me."
 
As a team, the Toreros outshot the Dons 16-5, with 11 of the 16 shots being on goal. The USD backline, meanwhile, limited San Francisco to just one shot on a net.
 
"I was a little bit nervous because we were missing Aaron Frey (who missed the game due to a yellow-card accumulation suspension)," added Quinn. "We started Till Stockmann and it took him 15-20 minutes to get settled into the game, but he fitted in really well. For me, that was pleasing as we were able to keep consistency in the concepts of what we're trying to do in the back."
 
The USD backline was effective in its defense, but it also contributed offensively as three defenders – Chase Van Wey (2), Stockmann (2) and Henry Lander – all had assists on the four goals. In total, seven Toreros had at least one point.
 
Van Wey helped the Toreros open their scoring in the 29th minute when he worked his way up the left sideline deep into the corner. From there, the redshirt junior lined a low cross into the goal area where Ryan buried it into the net for his third goal of the year.
 
Van Wey once again piloted the goal-scoring four minutes later when he lofted another ball into the middle of the penalty area, where it was headed in by Berry in the 33rd minute.
 
In the second half, Churness, who subbed in shortly before his goal, scored for the second time this season when he received a ball from the right side and slammed it in from short distance in the 60th minute. Four minutes later, Berry struck again when Lander delivered a long ball from midfield to a streaking Berry, who ran it low for a tight-angle shot in the 64th minute.
 
The win for USD was its first against San Francisco since 2014.
 
"When you get to that first game of the conference schedule, it's fresh, it's new for everybody," said Quinn. "So if San Francisco was going to make a statement, it was going to be tonight. They didn't do it, so they have to get on with it while we have to look forward to UCLA on Thursday."
 
The Toreros return to the road for their next matches, an October 17 matchup at UCLA followed by an October 20 tilt at defending WCC champion Saint Mary's.
 
 
NOTES
The last time USD scored four goals in back-to-back games was September 10 (Oregon State) and 12 (Sacramento State) of the 1999 season.
 
Berry moved into third place on USD's career goals lists on Saturday as he now has 31 in his career. He is only the fourth Torero to score 30+ goals in a career.
 
Berry has three multi-goal games this year.