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University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Virginia
Testo's Goal Lifts Underdog Tar Heels Past Virginia
September 21, 2002 | Men's Soccer
Sept. 21, 2002
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The defending national champion North Carolina men's soccer team solved the riddle of defeating the Virginia Cavaliers, beating UVa at Fetzer Field for the first time since 1994 in a 2-1 victory Saturday night before 3,055 fans. Senior David Testo, coming off a two-game suspension for violating team rules, scored the game-winner for the Tar Heels in the 21st minute of play.
UNC (#22 NSCAA coaches, #16 Soccer America, #13 Soccer Times) improved to 5-2 on the season while winning its Atlantic Coast Conference opener. Virginia (#19 NSCAA coaches, #9 Soccer America, #14 Soccer Times) fell to 3-3 with the loss and 0-2 in the ACC.
All the scoring took place in a four-minute span in the first half of play. Virginia opened the scoring at 16:40 when junior forward Alecko Eskandarian stole the ball in the UNC penalty area and converted a tough angle shot just inside the left post. It was Eskandarian's eighth goal of the season out of the 13 the Cavaliers have scored.
ut the Virginia lead would be short-lived. Just 58 seconds later, UNC senior forward Ryan Kneipper also converted a turnover in the box by a Virginia defender and struck a ball from 15 yards out to the right of UVa goalkeeper David Comfort. It was Kneipper's fifth goal of the season.
Testo, who missed UNC's games last weekend against Yale and Brown, had entered the match at 16:40 after Eskandarian's goal. Shortly after Kneipper's goal UNC won a corner kick and senior midfielder Matt Crawford sent a strike to the far post where Testo headed it home from short range. A couple of Virginia defenders got a head on the ball but by that time it had already crossed the goal line.
After outshooting Virginia 8-4 in the first half, it was the UNC defense which stood tall in the second half. Virginia kept the pressure on the entire 45 minutes, taking six shots to only one for Carolina, but UNC's offense, organized by senior captain Logan Pause and junior standout David Stokes was impenetrable.
In the waning minutes Virginia did produce two outstanding chances to score. Senior forward Ryan Gibbs once got past the UNC defense but pushed his shot to the left from 15 yards out. A couple of minutes later, Jonathan Cole had a point blank shot off a corner kick by Eskandarian but UNC goalkeeper Ford Williams found a way to tip it over the bar at the last second.
The win was especially satisfying for Carolina as Virginia had gone 7-1-1 in its last nine matches with the Tar Heels and 24-3-2 in matches against UNC since 1981. It was Carolina's first home match since the Tar Heels had a 15-game home winning streak ended on September 7.
For Virginia, the post-game notes were less positive. The Cavaliers, who lost to Penn State 4-2 September 8 and to Wake Forest 2-1 September 14, have lost three successive games for the first time since 1981. Virginia also starts the ACC season 0-2 for the first time since 1977.
