Box Score
ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- Four different goalscorers for the Virginia Military Institute men's soccer team helped lift the Keydets to a 4-3 win over host UNC Asheville Saturday afternoon. The game at Greenwood Soccer Field was one of VMI's highest-scoring Big South Conference games ever.
The Keydets' four goals tied the school's record for most goals in a Big South men's soccer game, locking in with a 4-3 win versus Presbyterian College on Nov. 5, 2010. The win over Asheville not only extended VMI's win streak over the Bulldogs to three, but was the Keydets first conference road win since Oct. 23, 2010, also at Asheville.
VMI (2-11-1, 1-6-1 BSC) collected goals from Matt Seinfeld, Blake McCauley, Aaron White and Kip Zechman. The latter two Keydets finished the afternoon with three points, each picking up an assist as well.
Between the pipes, junior keeper Daniel Kitchen earned his first Big South Conference win, making seven saves in his 90 minutes of action.
Opposite VMI, the Bulldogs (1-14-0, 0-8-0 BSC) got tallies from Rayon Gibbs, Trey Hemphill and Rob May. David Parra had a pair of helpers while Hemphill contributed on a goal as well. Dan Jackson suffered the loss in goal, but made five saves on the afternoon.
It was an afternoon of firsts for some of the Keydets. In addition to Kitchen's first career Big South victory, Seinfeld and McCauley each scored in back-to-back games for the first time in their respective careers, also tallying goals on Tuesday against Liberty University. White and Zechman tallied their first goals of the 2012 season and it was White's first since Sept. 28, 2011 against Howard University. Zechman too snapped a long scoreless drought, dating back to Oct. 29, 2011 when he scored twice at Campbell University.
The Keydets jumped out to an early 1-0 lead as McCauley tallied his fourth goal of the season just 14 minutes into the match. Zechman was credited with the assist. But the Bulldogs leveled the game 1-1 as May sniped his marker with Parra on the back end.
But less than one minute later, VMI took the lead as Seinfeld registered his third goal of the year, sending the Keydets into halftime with a 2-1 advantage. Coming out of the break, White extended VMI's lead to 3-1 with 34 minutes left in regulation.
With just under 20 minutes to play, Zechman tallied an insurance goal, which proved to be needed. In the final 10 minutes of the game, the Bulldogs struck twice and closed the gap to 4-3. But it was too little, too late for Asheville, which surrendered three points to VMI in conference action.
VMI continues its road swing next Saturday as the Keydets head to Rock Hill, S.C. for a Big South clash with Winthrop University. Action is slated for 3 p.m. at Eagle Field.
