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RICHMOND, Va. – The University of Virginia men’s soccer teamsnapped a two-game losing streak by recording a 2-0 shutout victory againstthe Virginia Commonwealth Rams in front of 1,776 spectators at the SportsBackers Stadium. It was the first loss at home of the season for the Rams,snapping a nine-game unbeaten streak dating back to the 1998 season andgave Virginia Commonwealth consecutive regular-season losses for the firsttime in 58 games dating back to the 1996 season. The victory was UVa’sfirst road win of the 1999 season and extended Virginia’s all-time serieslead over VCU to 16-0-1. The win was UVa’s third shutout of the season.
“This is the first game against a very good team that we played all90 minutes,” said Virginia head coach George Gelnovatch. “It’s all aboutmental lapses and tonight we eliminated them against one of the top fiveteams in the country.”
Virginia’s offense kept the pressure up in the first half of play,as the Cavaliers tallied seven of their 10 shots in the first half. Thetwo teams battled for the first 20 minutes without a score until Virginiamidfielder Drew O’Donnell (Newton Square, Pa./Haverford) broke through thedefense and scored the eventual game-winning goal off of a crossing passfrom Steve Totten (Allentown, N.J./Peddie) to give the Cavaliers a 1-0 leadat 21:36. UVa would take the one goal lead into halftime.
Virginia Commonwealth opening up its offensive attack in the secondhalf to try and tie the game. However, Virginia added an insurance goalshortly after the start of the second half when Totten converted a penaltykick at 55:25 to provide the game’s final margin. UVa midfielder RyanTrout (Media, Pa./Strath Haven) was taken down in the box which resulted inTotten’s scoring opportunity. That would be all the scoring UVa would needas the Cavalier defense and Virginia goalkeeper Kyle Singer (PlymouthMinn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) held the Rams scoreless en route to a 2-0shutout victory.
“Our work rate was good and our fight was good,” VirginiaCommonwealth head coach Tim O’Sullivan said. “We had a difficult timegetting going and we didn’t have many good scoring opportunities.”
With the win, Virginia’s record improves to 7-4-1 overall (1-2-1ACC) this season, while the loss drops VCU’s record to 7-3-1 (2-1-0 CAA) onthe year. The Cavaliers will return to action on Saturday, October 16thwhen Virginia hosts the Clemson Tigers in an ACC contest. The game isscheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. and will be played at Klockner Stadium.
Scoring 1 2 FVirginia (7-4-1, 1-2-1) 1 1 2VCU (7-3-1, 2-1-0) 0 0 0
Goals: UVa 2 – O’Donnell @ 21:36, Totten @ 55:25 (penalty kick), VCU 0.
Shots: UVa 10, VCU 8.
Saves: VCU 3 – (Mead 3), UVa 2 – (Singer 2).
Corner Kicks: VCU 8, UVa 5.
Fouls: UVa 18, VCU 15.
Offsides: UVa 3, VCU 1.
Cautions: UVa 4 – (Bush, O’Donnell, Solomon, Totten), VCU 1 – (Bejarano).
Attendance: 1,776.