Dunkirk’s Bradon Gustafson, left, and Southwestern’s Jaydon Work, right, battle for possession. P-J photo by Braden Carmen

DUNKIRK — The Southwestern Trojans and the Dunkirk Marauders opened the CCAA 1 West portion of their respective soccer schedules Wednesday night.

It didn’t take long to find out who was going to walk off Karl Hoeppner Field with a league win in hand.

Thanks to a James Pirrello goal less than two minutes into the game, followed by a first-half hat trick by Seth Vaughn, the Trojans cruised to a 7-0 victory under the lights at Dunkirk High School.

“Our number-one goal is to win the league, so this was the first step,” said Southwestern coach Jason Deering.

Southwestern (2-1, 1-0) scored four goals in the first half, then added three more, all with less than 15 minutes left in the second half. Vaughn’s first goal came in the 13th minute, his second in the 16th minute, and the hat trick in the 26th minute. Vaughn was pulled after that as a coach’s decision and did not return.

“We have been struggling a bit in a few areas that we had to improve. We really wanted to come out and make sure that we were taking care of those areas and I think that’s what we ended up doing,” said Deering.

Dunkirk (0-2, 0-1) was unable to get much offensive pressure early on. An opportunity with less than two minutes left in the first half by Brady Corbett that resulted in a tumbling save by Southwestern goalkeeper Jonas Gesing represented the Marauders’ best scoring chance in the first half.

Despite a 4-0 halftime deficit, the Marauders played much better to begin the second half. Over the first 25 minutes of the second half, the Marauders appeared much more comfortable.

“The first 25 minutes of the second half, we played very well. I thought we were moving the ball very well. We were unlucky on some of our chances we had. I wish some of them could’ve gone in the back of the net,” said Dunkirk coach Zach Meadows. “Our goalie worked hard, our defense worked hard. I was proud of the boys.”

Corbett had the Marauders’ cleanest shot at a goal in the second half as well, off a free kick just outside the box with 21:25 left to play, but again Gesing made the save. Shortly after that, Gesing gave way to Nathan Alexander, who finished off the shutout for the Trojans.

Over the final 15 minutes, the Trojans put the game away with goals from Nolan Froah, Spencer Bell and an own-goal resulting in a shot on net by Neves Hoose.

Greg Orcutt Jr. played well at times in net for Dunkirk and impressed his coach even when things didn’t go in the Marauders’ favor.

“Our goalie played very well. He worked hard, he kept going and he never gave up. I was very proud of him today,” said Meadows.

Southwestern now looks ahead to Saturday night’s contest at home under the lights against Falconer-Cassadaga Valley at 7 p.m.

“We still have a lot of work to get where we think we can be, but this was a good look that we needed. We needed some confidence … which is pretty big going into a big game on Saturday,” said Deering.

Dunkirk plays at rival Fredonia 4:30 p.m. Monday.