No. 7 Virginia Routs North Carolina State, 6-1
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Oct. 1, 2000
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Virginia men’s soccer team remained perfect in Atlantic Coast Conference action by posting a 6-1 victory over the North Carolina State Wolfpack in front of 1,895 spectators at Kl?ckner Stadium. UVa’s Ryan Kelly (Marlton, NJ/Cherokee) and Marshall Leonard (Midland, Ga./Shaw) each scored their first collegiate goals and Alecko Eskandarian (Montvale, NJ/Bergen Catholic) scored two goals on the afternoon (including the game-winner) in the Cavaliers victory.
Virginia didn’t waste any time recording the first score of the game. UVa’s Leonard gathered a cleared ball and fired a one-timer from 20 yards out that found the back of the NCSU goal just 2:43 into the match to put the Cavaliers on top, 1-0. Just over 10 minutes later, Virginia’s Eskandarian scored the eventual game-winning goal when Ryan Gibbs (West Chester, Pa./East) sent a cross to him that he chipped-in from five yards out to make it a 2-0 contest. Steve Totten (Allentown, NJ/Peddie) netted his first goal of the season at 22:19 when he converted a penalty kick to give the Cavaliers a 3-0 cushion.
The Wolfpack finally got on the scoreboard at 26:47 when Lee Baldwin found teammate Matt Tabor with a crossing pass for a goal. Tabor collected Baldwin’s pass and fired a shot around UVa goalkeeper David Comfort (Richmond, Va./Monacan) to pull NC State within two goals at 3-1. Neither team would score for the remainder of the first half of play and Virginia would take its 3-1 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The Cavaliers picked right up where they left off and matched their first half scoring output with three more goal in the second half of play. Eskandarian played a ball to Sheldon Barnes (Miramir, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas) and Kyle Martino (Westport, Conn./Staples), before Martino directed the ball into the goal off of his chest for UVa’s fourth score of the game at 52:26. The Cavaliers scored another goal 1:35 later when Eskandarian posted his second goal of the game. Barnes sent a cross in front of the Wolfpack’s goal that Eskandarian gathered and chipped-in from seven yards out at 54:01 to make it a 5-1 UVa lead.
Virginia tallied its final goal of the game when Leonard sent a pass from midfield that connected with Kelly, who took the pass and fired shot from 15 yards out that beat NCSU goalkeeper Mitchell Watson to the right corner of the net at 64:02 to make it a 6-1 UVa lead.
With the victory, Virginia improves to 7-3-0 overall, 3-0-0 in the ACC. The loss drops NC State’s record to 1-6-2 overall, 0-3-0 in the conference. The Cavaliers improve to 34-15-6 all time against the Wolfpack.
UVa will return to home action on Wednesday, October 4th when the Cavaliers host the James Madison Dukes. The contest is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. and will be played at Kl?ckner Stadium.
Scoring 1 2 FNC State (1-6-2, 0-3-0) 1 0 1Virginia (7-3-0, 3-0-0) 3 3 6
Goals: UVa 6 – Leonard @ 2:43, Eskandarian (Gibbs) @ 13:09, Totten @ 22:19 (penalty kick), Martino (Eskandarian, Barnes) @ 52:26, Eskandarian (Barnes) @ 54:01, Kelly (Leonard) @ 64:02. NCSU 1 – Tabor (Baldwin) @ 26:47.
Shots: UVa 25, NCSU 5.
Corner Kicks: UVa 11, NCSU 4.
Saves: NCSU 7, UVa 3.
Fouls: UVa 16, NCSU 11.
Cautions: UVa 2 – Feller, Prince, NCSU 1 – Baldwin.
Attendance: 1,895