Dear Old U.Va.

Freshmen Continue Growth

Tuesday, September 23 2008 by Tim

Freshman Tony Tchani scored in the fifth minute and again in the 16th minute. As it turned out, Virginia didn’t really even need that second one. Junior Ross LaBauex and Freshman Brian Ownby each added a goal as the Cavaliers continued their recent freshmen-led domination of opponents at Klöckner Stadium with a 4-0 win over Central Connecticut State.

In the last two games, Virginia has outscored opponents 9-0. The real shocking part? Eight of those nine goals were scored by either true freshmen or redshirt freshman. Tchani (Pictured right. Photo courtesy VirginiaSports.com) has scored four of the goals – two in each game – and now leads the ACC in goals (7), goals per game (1.0), points (16) and points per game (2.29) through today’s games. This should come as a relief to Cavalier soccer fans who saw their team going through a bit of growing pains early in the season – Virginia averaged only 1.8 goals per game (nine total) through their first five games, three of which were losses. But now it seems the freshmen might be really getting into the groove.

By the 60 minute mark when Virginia had taken most of its starters out of the game, the Cavaliers held a 17-1 shot advantage. To top that off, they also held a 9-0 corner kick advantage. Things didn’t really improve much for the Blue Devils against Virginia’s backups as the final tallies for shots and corners were 20-4 and 10-0 respectively. About the only statistic CCSU managed to rack up was yellow cards – they had four, compared to Virginia’s zero.

Tchani’s first score of the game came on an assist from Hunter Jumper just six minutes in. His follow-up, in the 16th minute, was on a penalty kick. Ross LaBauex made sure the upper classmen weren’t left out, tallying a goal at the far post. Brian Ownby wasted no time in the second half, running down a pass from Matt Poole to give the freshmen a collective three goals on the game.

Virginia will need a full team effort as they go on the road for their next two games. The Cavaliers take on Virginia Tech in Blacksburg at 7pm this Friday and then travel to Chapel Hill to take on #15 North Carolina at 7pm next Friday.

Update: Something I didn’t note in the original story, Freshman Chris Agorsor was seriously injured on the foul that gave Tchani his penalty kick try. According to reports on TheSabre, it sounds bad enough that it’s likely he won’t be playing again this season. He was taken off the field in splints and on a stretcher. Agorsor was the 2008 Gatorade National High School Player of the Year and the 2008 NSCAA National High School Player of the Year while leading McDonough to a 21-1-2 record last year. If he is out for the season, that would be a significant loss for the team. Hopefully he has a speedy recovery. I’ll post more as I have more information.