VIRGINIA BEACH, VA (October 8, 2005) – Virginia Wesleyan's soccer team came away with a 3-2 victory over Hampden-Sydney Saturday on a rain drenched quagmire of a field. The Tiger loss drops them to 7-5-1 overall and 3-3 in the ODAC. The Marlins retain possession of first place in the conference and improve to 9-3 overall and 6-1 in the ODAC.
Hampden-Sydney was able to strike first as freshman Michael Krewinghaus (Yorktown, VA/Tabb H.S.) found the Tigers leading goal scorer senior Grant Dickens (Raleigh, NC/Leesville Road) near the top of the box, where he splashed a shot past a stunned Virginia Wesleyan goalkeeper. The Marlins were quick to respond and posted a goal of their own at the 13:12 mark in the first half. Virginia Wesleyan scored another goal near the end of the first half as Tiger goalkeeper Pierce Buckingham (Richmond, VA/Christchurch) and defender Will Robbins (Ridgeland, MS/Jaclson Prep) converged on the ball which just stopped in a puddle. A slashing Damien Woodley for the Marlins took advantage of the situation and quickly passed to Josh Duncan who scored with only 1:22 remaining in the half.
As weather conditions deteriorated, play continued until the head referee suspended play with 37:07 remaining in the second half. During the hour and twenty minute delay the players and coaching staff for Virginia Wesleyan used folding chairs and aluminum benches as squeegees, pushing the numerous puddles off the field. To their credit, they were successful in removing the visible puddles but not able to improve the playing conditions.
After the lengthy delay play resumed and Tiger senior Bobby Hillmann (Raleigh, NC/Leesville Road) scored on Marlins goalkeeper Kyle Williams thanks to some footwork that splashed water waist high and in every direction. The result was a touch shot goal that tied the game at 2-2. Once again the assist came from freshman phenom Michael Krewinghaus.
Unfortunately for the Tigers the Marlins answered quickly with a third and final goal from senior forward Kelvin Murray. As for the play of Hampden-Sydney, Coach Laux said, "I'm proud of the way our guys handled adversity. We were getting it from the fans, from the weather and even the delay could have distracted us. We could have just given in but we didn't. It's too bad that these two teams really didn't get a chance to play soccer today. We're just lucky that no one on either team sustained a serious injury."
The Tigers return home for their next game against Methodist which is to be played on Wednesday October 12, 2005 at 4:00 pm.
