Virginia Records 2-0 Victory Over Drexel
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Sept. 18, 2012
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia men’s soccer team picked up a 2-0 win over Drexel on Tuesday evening at Klöckner Stadium. In wrapping up a six-match homestand, the Cavaliers (4-2-1) now are unbeaten in their last four matches. Drexel (3-2-1) had its three-match unbeaten streak snapped.
“It was a hard-fought win,” UVa head coach George Gelnovatch said. “We knew Drexel would be a quality opponent. I thought we were very economical. We didn’t put up a lot of shots up for the two goals. The two quality chances we had were two nice goals.”
Todd Wharton (Fr., Glen Allen, Va.) and Will Bates (Sr., Chester, Va.) each scored for the Cavaliers.
Virginia broke through for a goal in the 30th minute. After Bates slipped a pass through the defense near the edge of the box, Scott Thomsen (Fr., Brick, N.J.) tracked it down near the goal line and made a cut-back pass to the top of the box to find Wharton, who cranked a one-timer to the left side of the net for the score. It marked Wharton’s first college goal, while Thomsen earned his team-high third assist of the year.
The Cavaliers added an insurance goal in the 77th minute when Brian James (Fr., Sunrise, Fla.) sent a cross to Bates, who one-timed it from about 12 yards out off of Drexel goalkeeper Tim Washam and into the right corner of the net. The goal was Bates’ fifth this year and his 39th career score; the goal moved him into a ninth-place tie with Yannick Reyering (2005-07) on the all-time UVa goals ledger.
“I think the second goal kind of deflated them,” Gelnovatch said. “It took the air out of the game and took their energy away. That second goal really settled things down for us.”
Virginia goalkeeper Spencer LaCivita (So., Raleigh, N.C.) made six saves for the Cavaliers for his second shutout of the year, and Washam stopped two of the four shots on goal that he faced for Drexel.
While the Cavaliers out-shot Drexel 4-3 in the first half, the Dragons finished with a 13-8 shots edge. Drexel also took 11 corner kicks to one for UVa.
UVa plays its first true road game of the year at 7 p.m. Friday when it faces reigning national champion North Carolina in a nationally televised match in Chapel Hill. The contest will be broadcast live by FOX Soccer Channel.