THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 30, 1995 TAG: 9504300185
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JULIE GOODRICH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
It's not every day that a team has the chance to make the kind of statement that has national implications.
So when the Greensboro Dynamo - winners of the last two United Systems of Independent Soccer Leagues championships - came to town Saturday, Hampton Roads had the opportunity to gain instant respect with a decent showing.
They did better than that. A hot goalkeeper and two magnificent offensive plays kept the Mariners undefeated. Greensboro was shut out for only the second time in two years as Hampton Roads came away with a 2-0 victory at the Center for Effective Learning.
``I told my players before the game that (Greensboro) was better on paper, but we don't play the game on paper,'' said Mariners coach Sonny Travis. The win, Hampton Roads' third to start the season, ``will send messages across the country.''
Mariners goalie Garth Lagerwey was tested right from the start. USISL leading scorer Jimmy Glenn broke in alone 21 seconds into play.
Lagerwey got his biggest test of the season with nine minutes left in the first half when the Mariners were called for their seventh foul, giving the Dynamo a shootout kick.
Jason Haupt took the ball in for Greensboro with a 10-yard headerstart over the rest of the players, who were waiting back at the midfield stripe. Haupt dribbled the ball but Lagerwey came out to challenge, taking the ball away as Haupt desperately tried to shoot.
``Our field is so bad that I was just waiting for the ball to bounce up,'' said Lagerwey, who stopped 16 of the Dynamo's 25 shots. ``(Haupt) could never get any speed up because he couldn't control it.''
The teams battled back and forth until Greensboro was called for its seventh foul with 51 seconds left in the half.
Wayne Pratt converted the ensuing shootout kick, sliding the ball under goalie Aidan Heaney and inside the left post.
``I knew from last year that he usually came out to play, but this time he stayed home,'' said Pratt, who one-timed a shot from 5 yards in front of Heaney that gave the Mariners a 1-0 lead at the half.
Hampton Roads got an insurance goal 3:42 into the second, as Mark Waite scored with a diving header off a kick-in by Darren Eales. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
L. TODD SPENCER
The Mariners Alex Kee works against Jimmy Glenn of Greensboro.
by CNB