Posted: Oct 06, 2010
BRIDGEWATER, Va. --- Roanoke piled on three first half goals and cruised to a 5-0 win over Bridgewater Wednesday afternoon at Jopson Field. The Maroons improved to 10-3 overall, 4-1 in the ODAC. The Eagles dropped to 2-7-2, 1-2-2 in conference play.
The Maroons earned their third-straight shutout, including four of their last five outings. The veteran defensive unit has produced at least 10 shutouts for the third-straight season. That total to date is tied for the third-most in school-history and trails the 1998 team for second, which has 12. The school-record is 14 by the renowned 1993 team, which advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals and won a school-record 20 games.
Roanoke is now 20-1 all-time against Bridgewater dating back to 1983. It's the 12th series shutout and the first since the 2006 season. The win marks the fourth-straight 10-win season, the most consecutive years since a string of a school-record five-straight from 2000-04 and 1990-94.
The scoring got underway in just the second-minute of play, as Michael Stark (Newport News, VA, Menchville) scored his team-leading fifth goal of the season off a header to take the early lead. Jason Ryan (Radford, VA, Radford) was credited with his team-high fourth assist of the season coming off a corner kick.
Cameron Travalini (Millville, DE, Indian River) scored his fourth goal of the year two minutes later off an assist from freshman Carl Leist to give the Maroons a 2-0 advantage. It was Leist's first assist of his career.
Newcomer Johnny Hughes (Salem, VA, Salem) scored off a double-assist from both Stark and Travalini for his first collegiate goal to make it, 3-0 midway through the first half.
Jordan Troyer (Columbia, SC, The Hammond School), recently back after recovering from an injury, scored off Travalini's second helper of the day to increase Roanoke's lead to 4-0 midway through the second half. AJ Tierce scored the final goal of the contest from Andrew Howe (Mechanicsburg, PA, Cumberland Valley) in the 82nd minute.
Roanoke outshot Bridgewater, 13-9, including 7-3 in the second stanza with a slim 7-5 edge in shots on goal. The Eagles did own a slight advantage in corner kicks, 6-5.
Troyer led Roanoke with three shots, including one on goal. Bridgewater's Shane O'Donnell finished with game-highs of five shots and three shots on goal.
Ryan Russell (Danville, VA, GW Danville) (7-2) took the win in goal for the Maroons, collecting four saves. Casey Shotts (Virginia Beach, VA, Princess Anne) had one save in the final nine minutes of action. Travis Morris finished with two saves for the Eagles.
The men return to action this weekend as they travel across the state to Virginia Beach to battle Virginia Wesleyan. The men advanced to the ODAC Championship last year by defeating the Marlins in penalty kicks on their turf last season. Game time is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at Foster Field.
