NORFOLK, VA--ODU Junior forward Tim Hopkinson scored three goals and assisted on two others to lead the sixth ranked Monarchs to six second half goals in a 6-0 victory over Seton Hall in front of 1,097 at the 37th annual ODU Stihl Soccer Classic. In the other contest, VCU defeated Winthrop, 3-0.
ODU (3-0) and Seton Hall (2-3) were scoreless in the first half, but the Monarchs offense got into gear three minutes into the half as Hopkinsongot a pass from Gideon Asante for a 1-0 lead. Hopkinson scored again five minutes later on a pass from Jordan LeBlanc off a free kick, thenHopkinson assisted on the next two goals by Ivan Military and Chris Harmon. Hopkinson finished the hat trick with 13 minutes left on as assist fromAll American Yannick Smith. Smith, who missed ODU's first two games with an injury scored the final goal of the match off a steal.
The Monarchs outshot Seton Hall, 21-4 overall and 10-1 on shots on goal for their third shutout this season.
The six goals is the most since the Monarchs defeated Longwood in the 2003 Classic, 6-0.
The Stihl Soccer Classic returns to action on Sunday as VCU plays seton Hall at 12 noon, followed by ODU and Winthrop at 2:30 at the ODUSoccer Complex.
In game one, VCU (2-0-2)defeated Winthrop (2-2) , 3-0 on goals from Kharlton Belmar Juan Arbelaez in the first half. After an OWN goal to give the Ramsa 2-0 lead, Jason Johnson scored on a penalty kick for a 3-0 victory. VCU goal keeper Andrew wells had two saves in the shutout as the Ramsoutshot the eagles, 16-6 overall and 7-2 in shots on goals.
Seton Hall 0-0=0ODU 0-6=6
Scoring48:26 ODU Tim Hopkinson from Gideon Asante53:42 ODU Tim Hopkinson from Jordan LeBlanc62:10 ODU Ivan Militar from Tim Hopkinson63:38 ODU Chris Harmon from Hopkinson77:03 ODU Tim Hopkinson from Yannick Smith80:51 ODU Yannick Smith
Shots: ODU (21), SH (4)SOG: ODU (10), SH (1)Corners: ODU (9), SH (1)Saves: ODU- Victor Francoz (1), SH- Michael Kuzan (4)
VCU 1-2=3Win 0--0=0
Shots: VCU (16), Win (6)SOG: VCU (7), WIN (2)Corners: VCU (5), WIN (1)Saves: VCU- Andrew Wells (2); Winthrop (Tom Banfield (4)