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Sept. 3, 2000
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Virginia men’s soccer team made winning look easy, as the Cavaliers improved to 2-0-0 on the season with a 7-1 rout over the Jacksonville Dolphins in the Virginia Soccer Classic at Kl?ckner Stadium. The Cavaliers scored seven unanswered goals, including five in the first half of play, before Jacksonville broke into the scoring column in the final 14 minutes of regulation. UVa finished the tournament in first place with a 2-0 record and edged Maryland (2-0) for the tournament title by goal differential figures. South Florida (0-2) finished in third place and Jacksonville (0-2) rounded out the tournament field in fourth place.
UVa scored early and often, notching its first score of the game just 1:08 into the contest when Ryan Trout (Media, Pa./Strath Haven) found Kenny Arena (Fairfax, Va./Oakton) on a cross that Arena heading into the JU goal, just inside the left pipe. Arena’s goal was the first collegiate goal of his career at UVa.
Virginia would play the next 26 minutes of the game without scoring again before tallying four goals in the final 17 minutes of play in the first half. Kyle Martino (Westport, Conn./Staples) scored the contests second marker of the afternoon, which became the eventual game-winning goal for the Cavaliers. Steve Totten (Allentown, N.J./Peddie) played a give-and-go to Martino and he stuck it in the net at the 27:50 mark to make it 2-0 Virginia. Just over two minutes later, Alecko Eskandarian (Montvale, N.J./Bergen Catholic) made it a 3-0 UVa lead when Martino assisted him on another Cavalier goal at 29:56. Eskandarian wasn’t finished scoring just yet, as he added another goal at the 32:10 mark when teammate Sheldon Barnes (Miramar, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas) found him in the center of the box for an easy chip-in to make it a 4-0 contest.
Jacob LeBlanc (Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto) scored the first goal of his young, collegiate career when Eskandarian and Totten assisted him on a breakaway goal at 39:53 to make it a 5-0 Virginia lead. The Cavaliers would take their five-goal lead into the locker room at the half.
Virginia picked right up where it left off in the second stanza, with Curtis Bush (New Orleans, La./Isadore Newman) pushing UVa’s lead to 6-0 when he fired a shot from 20 yards out to post his first goal (unassisted) of the 2000 season. Jonathan Cole (Annapolis, Md./McDonogh) followed Arena and LaBlanc’s lead by also scoring his first collegiate goal when he tapped in a one-timer off a corner kick from Eric Solomon (Livingston, N.J./Livingston) to run the UVa lead to 7-0.
Jacksonville finally broke into the scoring column at 76:21 when Stephen Decker found teammate Mladen Dikic on a 10-yard shot from the left side of the box that beat UVa goalkeeper Nelson Cupello (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Arcadia) to make it a 7-1 game. Neither team would score again for the remainder of the contest.
With the victory, Virginia’s record improves to 2-0-0 overall, while the loss drops Jacksonville to 0-2-0 on the year. This was the first meeting between the two schools.
Eskandarian, Martino, Chad Prince (Woodbury, N.Y./Syosset) and Trout were each named to the 2000 Virginia Soccer Classic All-Tournament team. Martino was named the tournament MVP.
The Cavaliers will now prepare for the Maryland/Fila Invitational Tournament in College Park, Md. Virginia will face South Carolina on Friday, September 8th at 8:00 p.m. before battling Indiana on Sunday, September 10th at 2:30 p.m. Both contest will be played at Ludwig Field at the University of Maryland.
Scoring 1 2 FJacksonville (0-2-0) 0 1 1Virginia (2-0-0) 5 2 7
Goals: UVa 7 – Arena @ 1:08 (Trout), Martino @ 27:50 (Totten), Eskandarian @ 29:56 (Martino), Eskandarian @ 32:10 (Barnes), LeBlanc @ 39:53 (Totten, Eskandarian), Bush @ 52:20, Cole @ 59:04 (Solomon). JU 1- Dikic @ 76:21 (Decker).
Shots: UVa 27, JU 4.
Saves: JU 8 (Simpson 6, Miller 2), UVa 3 (Cupello 2, Singer 1).
Corner Kicks: UVa 6, JU 1.
Fouls: UVa 9, JU 7.
Offsides: UVa 9, JU 0.
Cautions: JU 2 – Dikic, Lloyd. UVa 0.
Attendance: 463.
2000 Virginia Soccer Classic Tournament Results
Game 1 Maryland def. Jacksonville 4-1Game 2 Virginia def. South Florida 3-2Game 3 Maryland def. South Florida 3-0Game 4 Virginia def. Jacksonville 7-1
2000 Virginia Soccer Classic Tournament Standings
1st Virginia 2-02nd Maryland 2-03rd South Florida 0-24th Jacksonville 0-2
2000 Virginia Soccer Classic All-Tournament Team
Kyle Martino Virginia MVPRyan Trout VirginiaAlecko Eskandarian VirginiaChad Prince VirginiaNick Downing MarylandRob Birch MarylandScott Buete MarylandTroy Perkins South FloridaJonathan Alva-Cavero South FloridaBrett Surrency JacksonvilleScot Shewey Jacksonville