The Middle Township High School boys soccer team enjoyed its season opener immensely Tuesday afternoon.
The Panthers struck three times in each half en route to a comfortable 6-1 victory over Pleasantville.
Middle dominated possession but had trouble cracking the Greyhound defense early in the contest. But David Gardner finally opened the scoring in the 23rd minute after being sent through the Pleasantville defense by a brilliantly flicked header by Max Gilbert. Gardner added another six minutes later and Teo Dimitrov scored with eight minutes to go before halftime as the Panthers built a 3-0 lead at the interval.
Pleasantville got a goal back early in the second half. Ricardo Exontus scored off a rebound shortly following a sliding save by Middle goalkeeper Braiden Scarpa.
That proved to be no problem for Middle, however, as Gardner, Gavin Quinn and Steve Berrodin each went on to score over the remainder of the second half.
Middle is next in action Friday at Absegami.