Colaluca's Two Goals Lifts No. 1 Virginia Past No. 8 WVU, 2-1, in OT
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Sept. 19, 2006
Charlottesville, Va. – – Junior midfielder Nico Colaluca scored his second goal at the 92:32 mark in overtime to lift No. 1 Virginia (8-0-0) to a 2-1 win over No. 8 West Virginia (6-1-2) Tuesday night in front of 2,171 fans at Klockner Stadium. The Cavaliers won their eighth straight and their third straight overtime game.
Colaluca knocked in a Yannick Reyering header from just inside the six-yard box to give the Cavaliers the win two minutes into overtime. It was his first game-winning goal of the season. Reyering flicked a pass with his head which found Colaluca on the right side. He scored his fourth goal of the season on the play.
With both teams playing a man down, West Virginia out-shot the Cavaliers, 8-6, in the second period. The Mountaineers tied the game in the 78th minute. Dan Stratford slipped a pass to Jarrod Smith inside the box that bounced around until Smith hammered home his sixth goal of the season to make it, 1-1.
Colaluca gave the Cavaliers a 1-0 lead in the 58th minute. After Adam Cristman played a perfect through ball to the feet of Jonathan Villanueva slid a pass to Colaluca, who beat the WVU goalkeeper 1-on-1 with his third goal of the season.
Virginia controlled the tempo of play in the first half as the Cavaliers out-shot the Mountaineers, 12-3. Cristman hit the post in the 4th minute and missed high on a shot in the 23rd minute. Colaluca had a chance right before halftime, but WVU keeper Nick Noble made a diving save on a shot to keep the game scoreless.
UVa held a 5-4 advantage in corner kicks and out-shot the Mountaineers, 20-13, in the game. Noble tallied seven saves in 92 minutes for WVU. Ryan Burke played all 92 minutes for the Cavaliers in goal and recorded two saves.
Virginia returns to action Friday night when the Cavaliers travel to No. 8 North Carolina for an Atlantic Coast Conference match at Fetzer Field at 7 p.m.