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Sept. 13, 2000
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Virginia men’s soccer team entered its game with the Northeastern Huskies looking to snap a two-game losing streak. Virginia did just that, as Sheldon Barnes (Miramar, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas) fueled a UVa offensive attack by registering his first collegiate hat trick and Eric Solomon (Livingston, N.J./Livingston) posted three assists to propel the Cavaliers to a 4-1 victory over the Huskies in front of 975 spectators at Kl?ckner Stadium.
UVa midfielder Kyle Martino (Westport, Conn./Staples) had a solid all-around game for Virginia. The second-year Cavalier scored the first goal of the game at 24:58 when Solomon fed Martino a pass that led to a 12-yard chip shot from just left of the goal to make it 1-0 UVa. Neither team would score for the rest of the first half of play, and the Cavaliers took their one goal lead into the locker room.
The game would remain 1-0 in favor of Virginia until just over 56:00 minutes into the contest. That’s when Barnes scored the first of his three goals on the evening. Barnes’ first goal came at 56:06 when Solomon’s corner kick connected with Barnes, who then headed the ball into the Huskies goal to push Virginia’s lead to 2-0. The goal eventually became the game-winning marker. Barnes wasn’t finished just yet, as he added his second goal of the contest five and a half minutes later at 61:36 when Martino played him a ball that he cradled with his chest, turned with with a Northeastern defender draped on him, and fired a shot from 14 yards away that found the back of the net to make it a 3-0 Cavalier lead.
Northeastern avoided the shutout by posting its lone goal of the game at the 75:48 mark when Petter Starnas gathered a cross from Terry Demby and beat UVa goalkeeper Kyle Singer (Plymouth Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) with a chip from 10 yards out to make it a 3-1 affair. Singer did tally two saves in the victory.
However, Barnes put the nail in the coffin on the Huskies, as he scored his third goal to record the 45th hat trick in UVa men’s soccer history when Solomon sent a corner kick to Ryan Trout (Media, Pa./Strath Haven), before Trout found Barnes with a cross that was headed into the goal at 82:41 to make it a 4-1 game.
With the victory, Virginia’s record improves to 3-2-0 overall, while Northeastern falls to 2-3-0 on the year. The win gave UVa head coach George Gelnovatch his 68th victory in his 100th game as a head coach at Virginia, improving his overall record to 68-22-10. This was the first meeting between the two schools.
UVa will return to action on Saturday, September 16th when Virginia travels to Winston-Salem, N.C. to face the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in the Cavaliers first Atlantic Coast Conference match of the season. The contest is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. and will be played at the W. Dennie Spry Soccer Stadium on the campus of Wake Forest University.
Scoring 1 2 FNortheastern (2-3-0) 0 1 1Virginia (3-2-0) 1 3 4
Goals: UVa 4 – Martino @ 24:58 (Solomon), Barnes (3) @ 56:06 (Solomon), @ 61:36 (Martino), @ 82:41 (Trout, Solomon). NU 1 – Starnas @ 75:48 (Demby).
Shots: UVa 21, NU 4.
Saves: NU 6, UVa 2.
Corner Kicks: UVa 4, NU 1.
Fouls: UVa 24, NU 11.
Offsides: UVa 1, NU 0.
Cautions: NU 1 McKibban, UVa 0.
Attendance: 975.