#2 Virginia Men's Soccer Routs UNC-Greensboro, 7-1
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Oct. 30, 2001
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The #2 ranked University of Virginia men’s soccer team cruised to a 7-1 victory over the visiting UNC-Greensboro Spartans in front of 1,033 spectators at Kl?ckner Stadium this evening. UNCG, coming off back-to-back wins over ACC teams Duke and N.C. State this past weekend, found things a little tougher against UVa in a game the Cavaliers ran away with. Virginia scored three goals in the first half, added four goals in the second period and had five different players score a goal to keep the Cavaliers undefeated on the season.
Virginia jumped on the scoreboard first when Ryan Gibbs (West Chester, Pa./East) gathered a cross from teammate Alecko Eskandarian (Montvale, N.J./Bergen Catholic) and chipped in a shot from 12-yards out at 20:21 to give UVa a 1-0 lead. Just under four minutes later (24:18), the Cavaliers’ Steve Totten (Allentown, N.J./Peddie) fielded a cross from Gibbs and fired a one-timer from the left side of the box into the UNCG goal for the eventual game-winning score. The goal was Totten’s first of the season. Virginia’s Eskandarian joined in on the scoring and posted his ninth goal of the year with a one-timer from 13-yards away at 40:47. Eskandarian juked past two Spartan defenders and connected on a one-timer to give UVa a 3-0 lead shortly before halftime.
The Cavaliers picked right up where they left off in the second period and pulled out to a 4-1 lead when Gibbs scored his second goal of the game at 56:02 when Eric Solomon (Livingston, N.J./Livingston) and Eskandarian teamed together with assists on Gibbs’ goal, his seventh of the season. UNC-Greensboro finally broke into the scoring column with its first and only goal at 72:56 when Mike Dunaway put away a one-timer off of a loose ball in front of the UVa goal to break up the Cavaliers chance at a tenth shutout this year.
Virginia’s Chris Megaloudis (Potomac Falls, Va./Potomac Falls) extended UVa’s lead to 5-1 when he gathered a cross set up by teammates Kirk Dinnal (Newton, Mass./Beaver Country Day) and Solomon and fired a blast from the right wing at 86:24 for his second goal of the year. UVa’s Solomon pushed Virginia’s lead to 7-1 after scoring back-to-back goals just over a minute apart (87:39 and 88:46) when he converted a penalty kick after being taken down in the box before heading in a cross from Megaloudis and Dinnal shortly before the second stanza expired.
UVa’s David Comfort (Richmond, Va./Monacan) and Kyle Singer (Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) combined for three saves in goal in the win (Comfort two saves, Singer one save), while UNCG’s Charlie DeMello and Joe Crump each posted three saves apiece in the loss.
With the victory, Virginia’s record improves to 14-0-1, while the loss drops UNC-Greensboro to 11-6-0 on the year. UVa improves to 3-0-0 in the all-time series history.
The Cavaliers will return to action on Sunday, November 4th when UVa travels to College Park, Md. to face the Maryland Terrapins in Virginia’s final ACC regular season contest of the year. The match is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. and will be played at Ludwig Field. The Spartans will return to home action on Saturday, November 10th when they host the Furman Paladines in their final regular season game of the season. The match is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. and will be played at the UNCG Soccer Stadium.
Scoring 1 2 FUNC-Greensboro (11-6-0) 0 1 1Virginia (14-0-1) 3 4 7
Goals: UVa 7 – Gibbs @ 20:21 (Eskandarian), Totten @ 24:18 (Gibbs),Eskandarian @ 40:47, Gibbs @ 56:02 (Solomon, Eskandarian),Megaloudis @ 86:24 (Dinnal, Solomon), Solomon @ 87:39 (penalty kick),Solomon @ 88:46 (Megaloudis, Dinnal). UNCG 1 – Dunaway @ 72:56.Shots: UVa 20, UNCG 9.Corner Kicks: UVa4, UNCG 2.Saves: UNCG 6, UVa 3.Fouls: UNCG 17, UVa 16.Cautions: UVa 2 – Eskandarian, Martino. UNCG 0.Attendance: 1,033.
— UVA —