Tribe Opens CAA with Win over Hofstra

Price Thomas tallied his third goal of the season for the game-winner against the Pride.

10/05/07 11:15PM

Williamsburg - The William and Mary men’s soccer team used an early goal and a strong performance from its young defense to open the CAA portion of the 2007 season with a 1-0 win over Hofstra. For the fourth straight match, sophomore forward Price Thomas registered a point, scoring the game-winner in the seventh minute of play. W&M evened its record at 4-4-2 overall and 1-0 in the CAA, while Hofstra fell to 1-5-2 on the season and 0-1 in the league.

For the third time in the last four games, W&M scored less than 10 minutes into the opening half. A pair of redshirt freshmen set up the goal for the Tribe as goalkeeper Andrew McAdams sent a long ball that was flicked to Thomas from forward Alan Koger. Thomas made a nice turn on the ball to beat a defender, before scoring on a shot into the lower right side of the goal from 12 yards out. It was the third goal of the season for Thomas and proved to be his second game-winner. McAdams and Koger both regis-tered their second assists of the season.

“It was nice to open the CAA season at home and get a win,” head coach Chris Norris said. “Andrew (McAdams) kicks the ball very well and that was one of the reasons we made the change with him at goalkeeper early in the season. Alan (Koger) was dominant in the air tonight, and Price (Thomas) did a good job of timing his run on the goal.”

Senior co-captain Ryan Overdevest had a good look that nearly gave the Tribe a 2-0 lead in the 26th minute of play. His shot from 15 yards out on the right side went just wide of the post. W&M held an 8-3 advantage on shots in the first half over the Pride.

The Tribe found the woodwork unkind in the 53rd minute. Following a foul, sophomore back Roger Bothe took a free kick 25 yards from goal on the right side for the College. His shot struck the nearside post, keeping the Tribe lead at 1-0.

The Pride continued to push forward over the closing minutes of the half, but the young Tribe backline of freshmen Derek Buck-ley, Nick Orozco and Michael DiNuzzo along with Bothe held Hofstra at bay. The most dangerous of chances for the Pride came with 17 seconds remaining. Hofstra generated a corner in the waning moments and sent everyone, including goalkeeper Tom Jo-hansen forward. Rob Youhill served in the corner and Ray Hassett got a head to the ball, but McAdams made his fourth save of the night, preserving the W&M shutout.

For the game, W&M outshot Hofstra, 18-11, including an 11-4 advantage in shots on goal. Each team attempted nine corner kicks on the night. Koger led the Tribe attack with five shots, including four on goal, while Bothe and Thomas each had a trio of shots with two on frame.

McAdams made four saves on the night for W&M to register his third shutout of the season. W&M has blanked three of its last five opponents, amassing a goals against average of 0.55 over that stretch. Buckley started his first career game in place of junior back Brock Jones, who missed the game due to injury. With Buckley’s addition, the Tribe started six freshmen for the first time in school history.

“We have been pleased overall with our freshmen, even guys like Derek who haven’t played as much in matches,” Norris said. “They have all performed well in training. We felt like he would come in do well, and he did. It was nice to be able to get a shut-out with three freshmen in the back and a freshman goalkeeper.”

The Tribe will return to action on Sunday, Oct. 7, at 1 p.m. when it hosts Northeastern. The Huskies opened their CAA slate with a 2-0 loss at Old Dominion on Friday night.

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