Monarchs Pick Up First CAA Tournament Victory Since 1995
VIRGINIA BEACH, VA (November 10) -- The #13-ranked Old Dominion University Monarchs advanced to the semifinals of the 1999 CAA Men's Soccer Championship at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex with a 3-0 victory over #8-seeded UNC Wilmington. The tournament's top seed, ODU won for the 12th time in its last 13 matches and posted its eighth shutout of the season with the win.
ODU got on the board in the second minute of play when Tommy Barnicle (Liverpool, England) took a pass from sophomore midfielder Carlos Mendes (Mineola, N.Y./Wheatley School) and beat UNCW freshman keeper Bill Mills (Jacksonville, N.C./ Jacksonville). The goal was Barnicle's fourth of the season and his fourth in ODU's last four matches. The assist was the 10th for Mendes who now has a team-high 10 on the season and 16 for his career.
The Monarchs got a pair of insurance goals from 1999 CAA Player of the Year Jimmy Tanner (Syracuse, N.Y./Christian Brothers) in the final 11 minutes of play. Tanner recorded his league-leading 19th and 20th goals of the season and now has 31 scores in ODU's last 30 matches. The fifth-leading scorer in the nation, Tanner tops the CAA with 44 points (20 goals, 4 assists).
"That's a tough team to play against," said third-year ODU coach Alan Dawson. "They have lots of emotion and work hard. Under the circumstances, our boys did what they had to do and came out of the locker room and played solid in the second half." With the victory, the Monarchs improve to 15-3-0 and will face #5-seeded William & Mary in the semifinals at 7:30pm on Friday night. UNCW concludes the season with a record of 8-11-1.
UNCW0-0=0ODU1-2=3 UNCWODUSHOTS724CORNER KICKS28SAVES9 - Mills2 - ConnellyFOULS1019OFFSIDE 62CARDSMiller (Y), Moreno (Y-2)Scoring:ODUBarnicle (From Mendes) 1:50ODUTanner (from Coates) 79:43ODUTanner (from Solorzano) 89:27