Oct. 22, 2005
NORFOLK, VA--The 2nd-ranked Old Dominion University men's soccer team is riding a nine match unbeaten streak into Sunday afternoon's CAA contest against Virginia Commonwealth. Game time is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at the ODU Soccer Stadium. ODU is in first place in the conference with a 10-1-2 (5-0-1) mark, while JMU is currently sitting in 2rd place with a 8-4-2 (4-2-1) season record. The Monarchs will be having their Senior Day ceremony prior to kick off, to honor their departing senior class.
ODU holds a 10-16-5 all-time record against the Dukes, and defeated them twice in 2004. On Friday, JMU played conference rival William & Mary to a scoreless double overtime tie. With the tie, JMU fell into a tie for 2nd place in the CAA, six points behind league leader Old Dominion. JMU ranks second in the conference in goals allowed as a team, only surrendering eight goals this season. Junior midfielder Kurt Morsink is the offensive leader of the Dukes, having scored five goals and five assists to lead the team in points. Junior Jon Britton is the teams leading goal scorer with six. Goalkeeper Kevin Trapp has only given up six goals in 11 games played, and ranks 2nd in the CAA in goals against average and save percentage.
Old Dominion is ranked #2 by the NSCAA/Adidas coaches poll, #6 by Soccer Times, and #7 by Soccer America and College Soccer News after running off a nine-game unbeaten streak that has featured seven shutouts and only one goal given up. ODU's shutout victory over VCU also extended their regular season home-unbeaten streak to 32 matches dating back to September 2002. Senior goalkeeper John Connelly (Rockville, MD) earned College Soccer News National Team of the Week honors for his effort in the shutout wins last weekend. Connelly has earned nine shutouts this year, shared a tenth, and leads the conference in that category.
Freshman standout Trevor Banks (Madison, WI) tallied a goal and assist against Virginia Commonwealth last Friday to bring his scoring totals on the year to six goals and 14 points scored, good enough to rank 2nd on the squad in those categories. Senior forward Brian Cvilikas (Highlands Ranch, CO) is currently tied for the conference lead in goals, and is 1st in goals per game, shots, and shots per game. Senior defender Trevor McEachron (Woodbridge, VA) and sophomore defender David Horst (Pine Grove, PA) have anchored a Monarch defensive unit that has only allowed 7 goals through 14 contests this season.
The men's soccer team is back in action Friday night as they travel to George Mason for a CAA contest.