September 5, 2006

Box Score

VT 1, W&M 0

 

BLACKSBURG, Va. - Virginia Tech and William & Mary unleashed a flurry of second-half shots and attacks on each other, but it was sophomore Scott Dillie's header in the first half that proved to be the lone goal in the men's soccer team's home-opening 1-0 win Tuesday night.

The No. 8 Hokies improved to 4-0 before a gathering of 1,411 fans, the fifth-largest crowd ever to witness a men's soccer game in Blacksburg. William & Mary fell to 1-4.

"The crowd was great tonight," head coach Oliver Weiss said. "It was an exciting way to kick off the home schedule."

The Hokies dominated a cleanly-played first half, controlling the ball and out-shooting the Tribe 7-1.

"Our game plan was well-executed early on," Weiss explained. "We wanted to come out with a controlling attack and we did that."

Dillie's first goal of the season came in the 13^th minute, when he dove for a beautiful Patrick Nyarko cross from the deep left wing and speared it in with his head from eight yards out. It was the third-career goal for Dillie and the second assist of the season for Nyarko, who leads the Hokies with eight points on the season.

The second stanza was a different story, however, with both the referees and the goalkeepers being kept a bit busier. The Tribe stepped up its intensity, matching the Hokies possession-for-possession as both teams fired 13 shots apiece.

"For some reason, we didn't keep our rhythm in the second half," Weiss said. "We did try to reintroduce some players who had been out so far - and that may have altered our focus - but consequently, William & Mary was able to get back in the game."

The Tribe also became more physical as the game wore on, and ended up drawing five yellow cards while committing 11 fouls.

"Some of our stops weren't necessarily due to our efforts," Weiss offered. "But rather it was their inability to finish and put the ball in the net."

Tribe goalkeeper Kris Rake stopped nine shots for William & Mary, while the visitors were paced by Andrew Hoxie's four shots.

Tech's freshman goalkeeper Brendan Dunn held strong in goal, making a career-high four saves, while the rest of the Hokie defense cleared away just enough balls to preserve its second shutout of the season.

"Overall, I think it was a very positive result," Weiss said. "We battled at the end and got a shutout against a team that has already contended with three nationally-ranked teams this season."

Weiss also thinks that his squad will see many more games like this.

"It wasn't long ago that were in William & Mary's shoes - a very good team striving to gain national attention. But now that we are inching toward the top [in the rankings], it's much harder to be fighting everyone off."

Tech will travel to Boston College Friday to open the ACC slate at 4 p.m.