#3 Virginia Men's Soccer Defeats Liberty in Virginia Soccer Classic, 2-1
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Aug. 31, 2001
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The #3 ranked University of Virginia men’s soccer team kicked-off the regular season portion of its 2001 schedule by hosting the Liberty Flames in the second match of the 2001 Virginia Soccer Classic. The Cavaliers battled back from a 1-0 halftime deficit to earn a 2-1 victory in front of 1,871 spectators at Kl?ckner Stadium in the season-opening match for both teams. Maryland defeated UCLA 2-1 in double-overtime with :40 remaining in the first game of the tournament.
Liberty scored the first goal of the contest and took an early 1-0 lead when Jason Streets and Pavel Cancura connected with Bryan Monka for a goal at the 16:30 mark of the first half. Monka gathered the crossing pass set up by his teammates and beat UVa goalkeeper David Comfort (Richmond, Va./Monacan) on a one-timer. The Flames would hold on to their one goal lead and went into the locker room ahead 1-0.
It took Virginia nearly 48 minutes to finally break into the scoring column despite outshooting Liberty nearly 6-to-1 for the game, but Alecko Eskandarian (Montvale, N.J./Bergen Catholic) fired a shot set up by teammates Kenny Arena (Fairfax, Va.Oakton) and Steve Totten (Allentown, N.J./Peddie) and beat the Flames’ goalkeeper Dean Short for a goal at 47:25 to knot the score at 1-1. With just 3:17 remaining in the second period and the game appearing as if it were headed for overtime, Arena headed in a cross off of a direct kick sent by Marshall Leonard (Midland, Ga./Shaw) directly into the LU net for the game-winning goal at the 86:43 mark of the contest. The goal was Arena’s fourth of his career and his second game-winner, while the assist was Leonard’s sixth of his career and his third game-winner.
UVa’s Comfort gathered two saves and looked solid between the pipes for UVa in the win, while Liberty’s Short collected nine saves and made several key stops to keep the Flames in the thick of things despite being outshot by the Cavaliers 28-5 for the game.
With the victory, Virginia’s record improves to 1-0 on the season, while the loss drops Liberty’s record to 0-1 on the year. The win improves UVa to 10-0-0 all-time against the Flames.
The Cavaliers will return to action on Sunday, September 2nd when Virginia hosts UCLA in the final match (game four) of the tournament. That contest is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. and will be played at Kl?ckner Stadium. Liberty will square off against Maryland in the third match of the tournament on Sunday at 12:00 noon. Both games will be played at Kl?ckner Stadium.
Scoring 1 2 FLiberty (0-1-0) 1 0 1Virginia (1-0-0) 0 2 2
Goals: UVa 2 – Eskandarian @ 47:25 (Arena, Totten),Arena @ 86:43 (Leonard).LU 1 – Monka @ 16:30 (Streets, Cancura).Shots: UVa 28, LU 5.Corner Kicks: UVa 15, LU 1.Saves: LU 9, UVa 2.Fouls: UVa 16, LU 15.Cautions: LU 1 – Cancura, UVa 0.Attendance: 1,871.