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Sept. 16, 2000
Winston-Salem, NC. – The University of Virginia men’s soccer team posted its first shutout of the 2000 season with a 2-0 victory over the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in front of 2,749 spectators at Spry Stadium. Virginia’s Ryan Gibbs (West Chester, Pa./East) netted two goals and UVa goalkeeper Kyle Singer (Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) gathered five saves to guide UVa to its first Atlantic Coast Conference win of the season.
After both teams played through a scoreless first half stanza,Virginia’s Gibbs started the second half of play and made his presence felt immediately. Just under two and a half minutes into the second period, Alecko Eskandarian (Montvale, NJ/Bergen Catholic) played a ball to Gibbs, who then gathered the pass and fired a shot from 23 yards out that looped over the out-stretched arms of WFU goalkeeper Rob Vartughian and found the back of the net at 47:26. The goal eventually became the game-winning score and was Gibbs’ first of the season.
After opening up a 1-0 lead, UVa would have to work even harder after its first goal to record its first ACC victory of the season. Virginia midfielder Kyle Martino (Westport, Conn./Staples) was ejected from the game after being issued his second yellow card of the match, forcing the Cavaliers to compete one man down for the rest of the contest with 33 minutes to play. Despite being undermanned, UVa didn’t seem to miss a beat and added a second goal at the 69:50 mark that sealed the game for the Cavaliers. Steve Totten (Allentown, NJ/Peddie) sent a pass upfield that connected with Gibbs that resulted in his second goal of the contest, pushing Virginia’s lead to 2-0.
Holding on to a two-goal lead, Singer and the UVa defense would not allow Wake Forest to break into the scoring column. Singer made several keys saves and the Virginia defense made play after play to stop the Demon Deacons offensive attack as the Cavaliers came away with a 2-0 victory in their first ACC match of the season.
With the win, Virginia improves its record to 4-2-0 overall, 1-0-0 in the ACC. Wake Forest falls to 2-3-0 overall, 0-1-0 in the conference with the loss. UVa is now 21-2-4 all-time against WFU and has not lost to Wake Forest since September 22, 1991.
The Cavaliers will now prepare for their next contest, a match with the Virginia Commonwealth Rams on Wednesday, September 20th. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:00 pm and will be played at Kl?ckner Stadium.
Scoring 1 2 FVirginia (4-2-0, 1-0-0) 0 2 2Wake Forest (2-3-0, 0-1-0) 0 0 0
Goals: UVa 2 – Gibbs (2) @ 47:26 (Eskandarian), @ 69:50 (Totten), WFU 0.
Shots: WFU 14, UVa 9.
Saves: UVa 5, WFU 5.
Corner Kicks: WFU 4, UVa 3.
Fouls: UVa 25, WFU 12.
Offsides: UVa 3, WFU 2.
Cautions: UVa 7 – Martino (2), Cole, Eskandarian, Trout, Kelly, Arena. WFU 2 – White, Saunderes.
Attendance: 2,749.