Treyton Barnett's hat trick powers Perryville past Windsor

Perryville's Treyton Barnett handles the ball against Windsor on Tuesday, Sept. 10, in Perryville, Mo.

Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

The Perryville boys' soccer team won a game on Tuesday.

And for once, it wasn't against Notre Dame.

Sparked by Treyton Barnett's hat trick, the Pirates routed the Windsor Owls 5-1 on Sept. 10, in Perryville, Mo., to improve to 3-2 on the season.

"Treyton's a very good player," Perryville head coach Jerry Fulton said, "always puts up numbers up top since he's been here. Now that he's a junior, we hopefully get a little more."

Barnett's first goal gave the Pirates the early 1-0 advantage. Lucas Wright and Carter Blechle followed it up with goals of their own to put Perryville on top 3-0 at halftime.

Barnett scored his second and third goal of the game in the second half to clinch the hat trick and put the game out of reach from the Owls. One of the Pirates' leading scorers a year ago, Fulton sees Barnett emerge as one of the leaders of a team that consists of 11 juniors and four seniors.

"He's been stepping into that role," Fulton said. "He's always willing to give extra effort."

The Pirates adjusted Blechle's position in order to fill a void. It just so happened to take place during a game that saw Perryville score more goals than the totality of its season prior.

"We moved him back to the center-head position because my center-back is out sick," Fulton said. "So I had to pull my center-mid to my center-back, who's out."

Perryville junior goalkeeper Waylon Huber notched five saves, and the Pirates defense has held opponents to one goal or less in four of five games to start the season. Last year with Huber in front of the net, the Pirates allowed an average of 1.7 goals per game and notched six shutouts. They're at 1.2 GPG so far this season.

"Defense has been pretty good," Fulton said. "We've only had one game where somebody could score multiple goals on us, and part of that game is really looking good, and we were missing a big key link."

Perryville's 2023 season ended on penalty kicks against Saxony Lutheran in the district tournament. This year's Pirates seem motivated for a longer run in districts and the first time that was evident was their penalty kick win over Notre Dame on Sept. 7.

"I think the experience in the past has gotten them to where they feel that," Fulton said. "I think the penalty kicks against Notre Dame there on Saturday definitely proved that they're definitely ready for anything that comes their way.

"You couldn't ask for a better scenario in that penalty. Our goalie stops two out of four and all three of our guys that had to shoot make them."

The win over Windsor is the first of a six-game slate between Sept. 10-19, including the Hannibal Pirate Tournament in Hannibal, Mo., from Sept. 13-14.