#13 Virginia Hands #17 James Madison First Loss of Season in Double-Overtime Thriller, 3-2

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Oct. 4, 2000

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – It took nearly 120 minutes to do it, but the #13 University of Virginia men’s soccer team handed the #17 James Madison Dukes their first loss of the season when UVa’s Ryan Gibbs (West Chester, Pa./East) scored the game-winning goal with just :22 second remaining in the second overtime period to give the Cavaliers a 3-2 victory.

Virginia scored the first goal of the game on Steve Totten’s (Allentown, N.J./Peddie) penalty kick at 10:55. Totten was awarded the penalty kick after teammate Ryan Trout (Media, Pa./Strath Haven) was taken down in the box by a JMU defender. The Dukes came right back and tied the game at 26:20 when James Madison’s Randy Steeprow connected on a one-timer from 25 yards out to knot the score at 1-1.

The Cavaliers came out of the locker room at halftime on fire and took a 2-1 lead just 1:46 seconds into the second period when Alecko Eskandarian (Montvale, N.J./Bergen Catholic) gathered a shot attempt by teammate Kyle Martino (Westport, Conn./Staples) and chipped in a shot from seven yards out at 46:46. The goal was Eskandarian’s seventh in his last five contests.

It appeared as though UVa was going to hold on for a 2-1 victory, but JMU’s Andrew Rutledge gathered possession of the ball and one-timed a shot from 13 yards out to tie the score at 2-2 at the 83:04 mark. Rutledge’s goal sent the game into overtime.

After both teams played through a scoreless first overtime period, it looked as though the game was going to end in a tie after neither team could put the game away after 14 and a half minutes had expired in the second overtime period. However, Virginia had one last chance, and made it count. With :30 seconds remaining in the contest, Eric Solomon (Livingston, N.J./Livingston) sent a pass to Jonathan Cole (Annapolis, Md./McDonogh), who then played a cross into Gibbs near the JMU goal. Gibbs collected Cole’s cross, gathered himself, and then fired a shot from 10 yards out that beat James Madison’s goalkeeper Josh Kovolenko for the game-winning score at 119:38.

With the win, Virginia improves its record to 8-3-0 overall, while the loss drops James Madison’s record to 8-1-1 on the year. UVa improves to 15-4-1 all-time against JMU with the victory. The game was the Cavaliers third overtime match in their last five outings.

Virginia will return to home action on Friday, October 6th when UVa host the Fairfield Stags. The contest is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. and will be played at Kl?ckner Stadium.

Scoring             			1   	2   	1OT	2OT	FJames Madison	(8-1-1)			1	1	0	0	2Virginia        (8-3-0)     		1	1	0	1	3

Goals: UVa 3 – Totten (penalty kick) @ 10:55, Eskandarian (Martino) @ 46:46, Gibbs (Cole, Solomon) @ 119:38. JMU 2 – Steeprow @ 26:20, Rutledge @ 83:04.

Shots: UVa 16, JMU 11.

Corner Kicks: UVa 5, JMU 5.

Saves: UVa 3, JMU 6.

Fouls: UVa 22, JMU 23.

Cautions: UVa 4 – Feller, Leonard, Solomon, Arena. JMU 3 – Wood, Munro, Pitt.

Attendance: 1,779.