Virginia Tech Upsets UConn

Hokies Knock Off Tournament's No. 3 Seed

December 8, 2007

BLACKSBURG, Va. – The University of Connecticut men’s soccer team, winners of eight straight and 13 of the past 14 NCAA Tournament games played at Morrone Stadium, dropped a tough 1-0 decision to Virginia Tech Saturday in the quarterfinals of the 2007 College Cup.

Patrick Nyarko scored the game’s lone goal in the 22nd minute to lead the 11th-seeded Hokies to their first-ever victory (1-3) over third-seeded UConn.

Julius James and the Huskies saw their season end with a loss to Va. Tech Saturday.

The Hokies (14-3-5) advance to their first NCAA semifinal in program history and will play the winner of tonight's Notre Dame/Wake Forest match in the College Cup on Friday, Dec. 14 at SAS Soccer Complex in Cary, N.C.

UConn finishes 20-3-1 in a year that saw the Huskies ranked as high as No. 2 in the NSCAA/adidas poll and No. 1 in the Soccer America rankings.

Virginia Tech had ample opportunities early, earning four corner kicks within the first 10 minutes. Still, UConn almost converted a score when Julius James headed high of the post.

But, the Hokies immediately raced back down the muddy field and Nyarko gained possession of a long, leading pass and weaved between a pair of Husky defenders and delivered a 20-yard grounder that hit the far post and to the back of the net to give Tech an early 1-0 lead at 21:39.

Nyarko has a team-high 26 points this season, and is now tied for the team lead in goals with seven markers as well as a team-leading 10 assists. The goal was a historic one, too, as it gave the Kumasi, Ghana native a tie for third place on the school's all-time goals with 31. He is also fourth place in Tech history with 86 career points.

Even though the score was just 1-0, the writing seemed to be on the wall for the Huskies. The Hokies entered the match 10-1-2 when scoring first and were 5-0-1 when Nyarko scores a goal.

O'Brian White managed another UConn chance by crossing a header which went directly into the hands of goalkeeper Markus Aigner 10 minutes into the second half. White had another quality chance when he missed wide left in the 61st minute.

But it was Hokie midfielder Charlie Campbell who may have came up with the save of the day when he blocked another shot by James in the 19th minute off a UConn corner kick.

The Huskies out-shot Virginia Tech 14-4 on the day, including a 10-1 margin in the second half, but sloppy field conditions from yesterday's snowfall limited the chances for the normally potent UConn attack. Hermann Trophy semifinalist and NCAA-leading scorer White led all players with four shots on the day, while four others added at least two.

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