First-Place Tribe Wraps Up Four-Match Homestand

W&M will host James Madison on Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. and VCU at 5 p.m. on Oct. 14.

10/10/07 12:30PM

Williamsburg - The William and Mary men’s soccer team will wrap up a four-match homestand with a pair of Colonial Athletic Association matches on Oct. 12-14. The Tribe currently sits in a four-way tie atop of CAA standing along with Towson, Old Dominion and Drexel. The Tribe will host James Madison on Friday, Oct. 12, at 7 p.m., before welcoming VCU to Williamsburg on Sunday, Oct. 14 at 5 p.m.

For complete men's soccer notes, click HERE.

W&M Home Games Live Over the Internet
All nine W&M men’s soccer home matches will be broadcast live over Internet at TribeAthletics.com. Click on the Live Audio link at the top of the homepage or on the Listen Live link on the schedule page.

Tribe News and Notes
- W&M has started at least five freshmen in each of its last eight contests, going 4-2-2 over the stretch. For the first time in school history, the Tribe started six freshmen in its CAA opening wins over Hofstra and Northeastern.

- Senior Ryan Overdevest and junior Doug McBride are the W&M captains for 2007.

- W&M improved to 30-6-2 all-time in home openers with its win over Elon. The Tribe is a perfect 4-0 under head coach Chris Norris in home openers.

- Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Andrew McAdams made his first collegiate start in the Tribe’s 3-1 win over Temple, finishing with three saves. In games in which McAdams starts, W&M is 4-2-2 with a goals against average of 0.83.

- Six W&M player have garnered their first collegiate points in 2007. Redshirt freshman Alan Koger scored his first collegiate goal in the Tribe’s victory over Temple, while sophomore Jeremy Harris opened the season with his first marker against Elon. Most recently, junior Doug McBride scored his first career goal at Stony Brook. Reshirt freshman Andrew McAdams (assist vs. American) and freshmen Nathanial Baako (assist vs. Dartmouth) and Michael DiNuzzo (assist vs. Temple) tallied their first career points on assists this season.

- Two former W&M players are currently playing professionally in Major League Soccer (MLS) and with a club in the Norway. Wade Barrett (1994-97) is in his second season with the Houston Dynamo, after captaining the club to the 2006 MLS Cup. He has earned 26 starts this season, assisting on two goals. The Dynamo currently lead the MLS Western Division and having already secured a playoff spot. Former All-American Adin Brown (1996-99) is the first-team goalkeeper for Aalesunds FK in Norway. Brown has five shutouts in 18 games for Aalesunds FK and even scored the last-minute equalizing header against defending champion Rosenborg in July. In total, over 28 former Tribe players have played pro soccer at some level.

- The Tribe is 14-7-9 all-time at Albert-Daly Field, including a perfect 4-0-1 mark this season.

- Juniors Nathan Belcher and Doug McBride were named to the Penn State Classic All-Tournament Team. Redshirt freshman Alan Koger, freshman Nathaniel Baako and junior Brock Jones were named to the ODU Stihl Soccer Classic All-Tournament Team.

-W&M was greeted by a boisterous crowd of 667 when its hosted then-No. 15 Virginia Tech. It was the largest crowd for the Tribe since a crowd of 850 versus North Carolina in 2005.

Scouting James Madison
James Madison enters its meeting with the Tribe at 1-6-3 on the season, including an 0-2 mark in the CAA. The Dukes have been on a skid recently, going winless over its last eight matches (0-5-3). JMU’s lone victory on the season came in its season-opening tournament over UNC Greensboro, 4-1. The Dukes also own ties with Syracuse, American and UMBC.

The only common opponent between W&M and JMU is American. The Tribe defeated the Eagles, 1-0, in Williamsburg, while the Dukes played to a 0-0 tie with AU in Harrisonburg.

James Madison has struggled to find the scoring column this season. After its four-goal output against UNCG, the Dukes have only scored five goals in their nine other matches. On the season JMU is averaging 0.83 goals per game. Kyle Morsink and CJ Sapong lead JMU is scoring with two goals apiece. Nick Zimmerman, Stefan Durr, Lucas Domgoergen and Frankie D’Agostino each have a goal and an assist on the season for JMU.

While the JMU offense has struggled, the Duke defense has kept it in games. Ken Manaham has started all 10 games and played every minute in goal for the Dukes. He has a goals against average of 1.11 to go along with 36 saves and two shutouts.

The all-time series between JMU and W&M is split down the middle at 17-17-8. The Tribe does hold an 8-5-4 advantage in Williamsburg. Last season, the Dukes jumped out to a 2-0 advantage over W&M, but the Tribe rallied to forge a 2-2 tie with then-No. 23 ranked JMU. In fact, each of the last three meetings between the two schools has gone to overtime.

Scouting VCU
The Rams are coming off a CAA opening weekend split at home. VCU dominated Delaware, 5-0, to open the league ledger, before falling to Drexel, 1-0. The Rams are 5-2-2 on the season and ranked No. 4 in the South Atlantic Region according to the NSCAA. VCU is also receiving votes in the College Soccer News National Top 30.

VCU is the ninth-ranked scoring offense in the country at 2.33 goals per game. It marks the second time this season W&M has hosted a high-scoring offensive attack. Last season, the Tribe held then-No. 15 Virginia Tech, who was ranked No. 7 in scoring offense, to one goal in 110 minutes. The Rams also sport one of the top statistical defenses in the country. The Rams rank sixth nationally in goals against average (0.42), 19th in shutout percentage (0.56) and 14th in save percentage (0.862).

The Tribe and Rams have a trio of common opponents in Virginia Tech, North Carolina and America. The College went 1-0-2 against the trio, while VCU was 2-0-1. The lone difference in marks between the two was W&M’s 1-1 tie with Virginia Tech compared to VCU’s 4-0 win over the Hokies to open the season.

The Ram attack features four players with at least nine points on the season. Pat Viray leads the way for VCU with 13 points on four goals and five assists. Sven Meusch shares the team-lead in goals with four, while Matthijs Maruanaya is tied with Viray for team-high honors with in assists with five. Both Meusch and Maruanaya have nine points on the season as does Owusu Sekyere (3g, 3a). Andrew Dykstra has started every game in goal. He ranks ninth nationally in goals against average at 0.45 to go along with three shutouts. Dykstra also ranks 21st nationally in save percentage at .852.

W&M leads the all-time series with VCU at 14-8-2, including a 6-3-1 mark in Williamsburg. Last season, the Tribe tied its match with VCU at one in the final two minutes of regulation, before scoring the game-winner just over six minutes into the first overtime period.

Fast CAA Starts
The Tribe’s 2-0 start in the CAA is its best since the 2002 when W&M opened the conference season with a 5-0-1 mark before dropping its first league match of the season. It marks the seventh time in the Tribe’s 23-year history in the CAA that W&M has opened the CAA 2-0. The Tribe has started 2-0 in the CAA during the 2002, 1996, 1994, 1989, 1987 and 1986 seasons. On four of those occasions, the College went on to win the CAA regular season championship. The last time W&M won three straight conference matches to open the season was in 1996 when the Tribe went a perfect 8-0 in league play.

Youth Movement
A glance at the Tribe roster will bring about one common theme, youth. The W&M roster features 17 of 25 players, who are underclassmen (freshmen, redshirt freshmen and sophomores). Head coach Chris Norris has wasted little time not only putting the Tribe’s youth movement on display, but relying on it to win matches for the College.

In the College’s CAA opening wins over Hofstra and Northeastern, the Tribe lineup featured six freshmen. It marked the first time in school history that six freshmen have started together in a match. In fact, in each of the Tribe’s last eight matches, five or more freshmen have started. The Tribe is a remarkable 4-2-2 over that stretch.

Against Hofstra, the Tribe starting XI featured redshirt freshmen Andrew McAdams and Alan Koger along with true freshmen Nick Orozco, Michael DiNuzzo, Derek Buckley and Nathaniel Baako. The youth movement didn’t stop there as nine of the 11 starters were underclassmen with sophomores Roger Bothe, Price Thomas and Jeremy Harris joining the fold.

In the College’s season-opening win over Elon, the starting XI featured four true freshmen (Nick Orozco, Michael DiNuzzo, Nathaniel Baako and Ian Stowe). It marked the first time in 15 years that four true freshmen started the same game. The last time a W&M starting lineup included four true freshmen was Nov. 14, 1992 when Chris Scrofani, Tim Pricso, Bill Owens and Greg Richards started the Tribe’s First Round NCAA Tournament victory over West Virginia. The 1992 campaign was also the last time five freshmen started at least one game during the season as Andrew Petty started eight games as well as the four players who started the NCAA Tournament affair.

Down Right Defensive
W&M head coach Chris Norris tinkered with his defensive lineup over the opening part of the regular season, and if recent results are any indication, Norris has pushed the right buttons. The first change came prior to the ODU Stihl Soccer Classic moving redshirt freshman goalkeeper Andrew McAdams into the starting XI. The changes continued a week later as the fourth-year Tribe headman moved junior Brock Jones to center back in an attempt to solidify the backline prior to the North Carolina match.

The moves have paid dividends as W&M has posted a 4-2-2 mark to go along with a 0.83 goals against average in the eight games since the initial change. In fact, over the Tribe’s last six matches, W&M has a GAA of 0.62, while registering three shutouts. The College shutout ACC foe North Carolina on the road on Sept. 19, before holding the nation’s No. 7-ranked scoring offense, Virginia Tech, to only one goal in 110 minutes of play.

To make the Tribe’s defensive strides more impressive is the influx of youth in the back third of the field. The W&M lineup not only sports a first-year goalkeeper in McAdams but also includes true freshmen Nick Orozco and Michael DiNuzzo in the back along with sophomore Roger Bothe. The trio of Orozco, DiNuzzo and Bothe has started every match this season for the Tribe.

In the Tribe’s CAA opening wins over Hofstra and Northeastern, freshman back Derek Buckley stepped in for an injury Brock Jones in the back. The starts were the first of Buckley’s W&M career.

Looking Into His Crystal Ball
W&M head coach Chris Norris has been spot on each of the last two seasons when noting Tribe players on the verge of a breakout season. Last season, Norris said he felt it was time for midfielder Doug Ernst to step to the forefront for the College, and the Alexandria, Va., native went on to lead the CAA in assists with nine. This season, Norris said he expected big things from sophomore Price Thomas, and the Charlottesville, Va., native has followed suit.

With W&M limited at the forward position this season, Thomas has stepped in to fill the void alongside blossoming redshirt freshmen striker Alan Koger. Thomas, who started 17 of 19 matches as a true freshman in the midfield, is starting to establish himself as one of the more dangerous players in the CAA with the ball at his feet. In each of the Tribe’s last five games, the Charlottesville, Va., native has registered a point for the Tribe. Over the stetch, he has tallied four goals and an assist to share team-high point honors with Koger. Thomas has tallied game-winners in two of the Tribe’s last four matches, scoring the decisive goal against American on Sept. 25 and in the CAA opener versus Hofstra on Oct. 5.

Koger Making an Impact Up Top
Redshirt freshman forward Alan Koger has made his presence felt in the attacking half for the Tribe in 2007. After coming on as a reserve in the Tribe’s opening three matches of the season, Koger moved into the starting lineup prior to the ODU Stihl Soccer Classic and has been there ever since. Over the Tribe’s last eight games, Koger has nine points on three goals and three assists. In his first career start against Temple, Koger tallied two goals to lead the Tribe to a 3-1 victory.

Koger has not only made his impact in the scoring department for the Tribe, but also with his ability in the air as well. The 6-2 striker gives the College a big target in the attacking half, and has demonstrated the ability to dominate a game by winning balls in the air. On two different occasions this season against Virginia Tech and Hofstra, Koger has flicked a header off a long ball to set up W&M goals.