No. 2 Virginia Blanks No. 17 St. John's, 5-0
CHARLOTTESVILLE – The No. 2 Virginia men’s soccer team blanked No. 17 St. John’s, 5-0, Sunday afternoon at Klöckner Stadium. Freshman Brian Span (Somers, N.Y.) scored two goals and added an assist for the Cavaliers.
Virginia (2-0) is unbeaten in its last 18 games dating back to last season and extended its home unbeaten streak to 12 matches.
With the loss, the reigning BIG EAST Champion St. John’s fell to 1-1 on the season.
“We were very fortunate to score on our first two good opportunities,” Virginia head coach George Gelnovatch said. “When we scored the third goal it kind of took the life out of the game. St. John’s is a playoff-caliber team and I know if we played this game 10 times, the scoring line would not be the same.”
Span scored his first career goal in the 12th minute when he lifted a shot to the upper right corner of the net from 15 yards out.
Later in the first half, Ari Dimas (Chesapeake, Va.) hit a service across the goal from the left side and Jimmy Simpson (Warrenton, Va.) headed in the goal. It was Simpson’s first goal of 2010 and the seventh of his career.
Just over a minute later, Will Bates (Chester, Va.) gained control of a long pass from Sean Murnane (Centreville, Va.) and beat St. John’s goalkeeper Rafael Diaz for his second goal of the season.
UVa’s lead remained 3-0 until the 62nd minute when Murnane and Span connected on a passing sequence in front of the goal and Murnane finished the shot from 12 yards out. It was his first-career goal.
Span’s second goal of the day came during the 73rd minute, when he finished a cross from Marcus Douglas (Washington, D.C.). For Douglas, it was the first assist of his career.
In goal for Virginia, Diego Restrepo (West Palm Beach, Fla.) recorded the shutout, the first of 2010 and the 17th of his career. He finished with three saves.
For St. John’s, Diaz had two saves and allowed four goals, while Alex Naples allowed one goal in 28 minutes and 21 seconds of action.
Virginia held a 14-11 advantage in shots, while the Red Storm held a 7-5 advantage in corner kicks.
Up next for UVa, the Cavaliers open the Atlantic Coast Conference portion of their schedule on the road on Saturday, Sept. 11 at Duke. Kick-off is 7 p.m.