#10 Virginia Rallies to Defeat Elon, 3-1

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Oct. 18, 2000

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The #10 ranked University of Virginia men’s soccer team fell behind 1-0 early, but rallied for a 3-1 victory over the Elon Phoenix in front of 944 spectators at Kl?ckner Stadium. The Cavaliers first-year duo of Ryan Kelly (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee) and Alecko Eskandarian (Montvale, N.J./Bergen Catholic) teamed together to score each of UVa’s three goals.

Elon jumped on the scoreboard first and took a 1-0 lead when Chad Heinicke gathered a cross set up by teammates Jake Downs and Marley Hagerstrom and beat UVa goalkeeper Kyle Singer (Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) with a shot from 22 yards out for a goal at 26:27. Virginia answered right back just over two minutes later when Kelly headed a deflected ball past Phoenix goalkeeper Scot Whal’s outstretched arms at 28:40 to knot the score at 1-1. The goal was Kelly’s second of the season. The teams went into halftime tied at 1-1.

After nearly 17 minutes of scoreless second half action, Virginia’s Eskandarian scored the eventual game-winning goal at 61:55. Marshall Leonard (Midland, Ga./Shaw) played a ball upfield to Curtis Bush (New Orleans, La./Isadore Newman), who then sent a cross to Eskandarian that he chipped-in from 10 yards away to make it a 2-1 UVa lead. Just over five minutes later, Eskandarian scored his second goal of the game (13th of the season) when Kyle Martino (Westport, Conn./Staples) sent a cross to him that a Elon defender tried to clear on the run. The ball found it’s way in front of a streaking Eskandarian, who then fielded the ball and fired a shot from 12 yards out that resulted in a goal to put the game away, giving the Cavaliers a 3-1 lead.

With the victory, Virginia’s record improves to 10-3-1 overall, while the loss drops Elon’s record to 6-8-0 on the season This was the first meeting between the two schools.

The Cavaliers will return to home action on Saturday, October 21 when Virginia hosts the Duke Blue Devils in an Atlantic Coast Conference match-up. The contest is scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. and will be played at Kl?ckner Stadium. Elon will also return to action on Saturday when the Phoenix host Winthrop University.

Scoring             			1   	2   	FElon			(6-8-0)		1	0	1Virginia        	(10-3-1)  	1	2	3

Goals: UVa 3 – Kelly (unassisted) @ 28:40, Eskandarian (Leonard, Bush) @ 61:55, Eskandarian (unassisted) @ 67:32. Elon 1 – Heinicke (Downs, Hagerstrom) @ 26:27.

Shots: UVa 17, Elon 3.

Corner Kicks: UVa 7, Elon 0.

Saves: Elon 10, UVa 1.

Fouls: UVa 12, Elon 8.

Cautions: None.

Attendance: 944.

– UVa –