Go Red Flash

Men’s Soccer Nearly Pulls Off Upset At No. 2 Virginia

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (Sept. 12, 2006) - The Saint Francis men’s soccer team came within 30 seconds of upsetting the nation’s second ranked team, but Virginia forced overtime with a late goal and then scored at 92 minutes, 10 seconds to hand the Red Flash a disappointing 2-1 defeat in a highly entertaining game Tuesday night at Klockner Stadium.

A proud and storied program with five national titles, the Cavaliers improved to 6-0-0 on the season, while Saint Francis fell to 1-5, but came off the pitch knowing it can compete with the nation’s best.

Saint Francis sophomore goalkeeper Brad Williams (San Lorenzo, Calif. / Arroyo) stopped 11 shots, and senior forward Scott Thompson (Durham, England / Lanchester Saint Bedes) scored at 74:09 to give the Red Flash a 1-0 lead while silencing the crowd of 870.

After taking the lead, Saint Francis held up to Virginia’s relentless attack down the stretch until Ian Holder tied it up off a header from about eight yards out with just 26.4 seconds remaining on the clock. The Cavaliers were awarded a corner kick of a ball that was sent in by one of their own forwards. The ball didn’t appear to hit a Red Flash player, but Virginia was given the corner kick and capitalized on the opportunity. Jeremy Barlow sent the corner kick into the 18-yard box, where Holder was able to force a shot over Williams’ head to bring the crowd of 870 back to its feet.

Dane Murphy ended the contest at 92:10 when he one-touched a ball over Williams’ head off a pass from Matt Ayotte.

“It was a tremendous team effort tonight when playing a team of this quality,” said Saint Francis head coach B.J. Craig. “We needed to take care of our chances against this team, and we got the one we wanted. You have to feel that Virginia got a bit of luck in the end.

“Our team has shown tremendous resilience. Most teams would have broken by now. We are playing the best teams in the nation, and we took two of the Top 10 teams to overtime (Akron and Virginia). The results are going to come our way.”

Virginia outshot the Red Flash 23-10 in the game, and had eight corner kicks against three. Saint Francis committed 15 fouls, while the Cavaliers had eight.

The Red Flash will be back in action on Sunday when they play at Howard at 2 p.m.

The Red Flash had the first good scoring opportunity of the game when midfielder Aaron Clapham (Christchurch, New Zealand / Aranui) fed a long past down the left wing to a streaking Thompson. Thompson tried to cross the ball into the box, but it was intercepted by a Cavalier defender.

Moments later, Saint Francis had a corner kick where Clapham was able to get a head on a shot, but it sailed just wide of goalkeeper Michael Giallombardo.

At the seven minute mark of the first half, College Soccer News National Player-of-the-Week Yannick Reyering initiated Virginia’s first good scoring opportunity. He rifled a shot from 12 yards out that Williams stuffed to keep the game scoreless.

At 10:51 remaining in the first half, Clapham got a shot off after a Jarron Brooks (Mitchellville, Md. / Archbishop Carroll) throw-in, but the shot sailed over the net.

33:30 Clapham got another shot off that was tipped just over the crossbar of a leaping goalkeeper.

Thompson got behind the defense at 22:52, but he wasn’t able to get off a clean shot with defenders flanked on each side of him. His shot went high of the crossbar.

The Cavaliers had another good scoring opportunity at 4:49 after a scramble outside the 18-yard box. Two Red Flash defenders knocked the ball loose from Reyering, but Chris Tierney found the ball at his feet inside the box. He released a shot from left to right, but Williams closed off the corner of the net by stopping the shot short of the goal line.

Less than two minutes later, Tierney sent a corner kick into the goalie box, where Williams came out to thrwart any threat.

Pass from Clapham, Montoya shot from about 15 yards, but it was deflected by a defender into the goalkeeper.

The Red Flash had the first good scoring opportunity of the second half as well when Kwame Adjeman-Pamboe (Greenbelt, Md. / Eleanor Roosevelt) beat two Virginia defenders and released a hooking shot from 18 yards out that just missed the right side of the net at 48:41.

Williams made an outstanding play on a cross by Jeremy Barlow at 58:43 when Barlow sent a cross into the goalie box with Adam Cristman and Reyering unmarked at the other end. Williams made a diving stop of the cross to prevent any scoring chance.

Freshman midfielder Brent Brockman (Dillsburg, Pa. / Northern York) nearly opened the scoring at 59:05 when he was unmarked for a shot from just outside the 18-yard box, but the shot went just wide of the goal.

Junior midfielder Jeremy Tice (Littleton, Colo. / Chatfield) had an opportunity of his own at 61:18, but his shot also went just wide.

The Cavaliers began to put the pressure on with 25 minutes remaining in the contest. They had several outstanding opportunities down the stretch, but Williams came out to stop shots on several occasions.

Brockman found himself on a 1-on-1 70:35 with a Virginia defender, but he was forced to shoot off of his off-foot and it went wide.