Asheville City scored early and often in a 7-0 rout of Birmingham Legion II down in Alabama on Wednesday night. The Men in Blue had five different goalscorers on the night, led by University of Alabama-Birmingham player Tony Kim, who notched his first hattrick as a member of the Blues.

Things got going quickly as in the 4th minute the Blues hopped on the board. Michael Rempel sent a pinpoint freekick into the box that found Agustin Resch who put it home to give the Blues an early 1-0 lead.

8 minutes later, Resch nearly found his second off of a corner but the chance went begging and the Blues’ lead remained at one.

It did not stay 1-0 long as Tony Kim got his first goal of the match in the 16th minute. Galen Flynn played a nice feed into Kim who picked out the corner of the net to put Asheville up 2-0.

The pressure on the Birmingham backline kept mounting as the ball made its way to Edouard Nys who unleashed a shot towards goal that stung the crossbar but stayed out of the net.

The Blues added a third before halftime on the counter attack when Kim found Rempel who hit the back of the net, giving the Blues a commanding 3-0 lead a minute into stoppage time in the first half.

Things did not stop there, as in the 48th minute Ayman Maadir, who subbed on during the break, played a lovely ball over the top to Kim who notched his second goal of the night to increase the Asheville advantage to 4-0.

Kim completed his hattrick in the 56th minute when he received a pass from Kimito Fritz and slotted it home to push the Asheville lead to 5-0.

12 minutes later, Dante Huckaby netted a goal of his own with a beauty of a free kick as the Blues’ lead rose to a whopping 6-0.

Asheville City knocked through the extra point to go up 7-0 in the 79th minute, when Fritz smashed a strike into the corner of the goal to grab his second goal in two games and finish off the Blues’ onslaught of goals.

Tony Kim was awarded the Noble Cider Player of the Match award for his efforts in the match which included a hattrick.

The #4 Nationally-Ranked Men in Blue head to Georgia to take on Columbus United on Saturday, June 14th before returning home to face off with Dothan United on Saturday, June 21st at 7:30 PM. The #2 Nationally-Ranked Women in Blue return home to Greenwood Field on Sunday, June 15th when they play the Chattanooga Red Wolves at 4:00 PM. You can buy your tickets here.