
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 29, 1994                   TAG: 9407290067
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From staff reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ROANOKE STAR WINS IN SOCCER

The Roanoke Star Under-15 boys defeated Holmestrand of Norway 4-0 in the single-elimination round of Dana Cup soccer tournament Thursday in Hjorring, Denmark.

Ernie Hale scored two goals for the Star, and Mike Lukas and Tien Cao each scored one. Ryan Caya recorded the shutout in goal. Sweeper Steven Hamblen anchored the defense.

Roanoke, which plays a team from Switzerland today for a berth in the quarterfinals, is 5-1-2 on its European tour. The only goal scored on the star was by Nolsik of Norway on Wednesday.

In other sports in the region:

Virginia Tech's first-round opponent in the San Juan Shootout basketball tournament in November is Montana State, and the Hokies avoided being bracketed with Illinois and Alabama-Birmingham in the eight-team field.

The Hokies, 18-10 last year, play Montana State (13-11) at1 p.m. EST on Nov. 25 at the Eugenio Guerra Sports Complex at the American University of Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Nebraska, 20-10 and an NCAA Tournament entrant last year, and Northeast Louisiana (18-9) are the other teams in Tech's bracket.

Illinois, UAB, American U. of Puerto Rico and College of Charleston are in the opposing bracket in the season-opening tournament. Illinois, UAB and Charleston combined for a 61-23 mark last year and made the NCAA field.

The tournament's seeding committee deemed Illinois the favorite, followed by second-seeded Nebraska and Tech.

Marshall, which has played in the past three Division I-AA national football championship games, was picked to win the 1994 Southern Conference football crown. VMI was picked last in the nine-team lead.

The Thundering Herd, 11-4 a season ago and national runner-up, received 21 out of 25 first-place votes by media members attending the league's annual football kickoff.

Defending champion Georgia Southern was picked second with four top votes, followed by Western Carolina, which got one top vote. East Tennessee State was picked fourth, followed by Appalachian State, Furman, The Citadel, Tennessee-Chattanooga and VMI.

by CNB