Hawks make statement with tie against UVA BY DOMINICK RINELLI JR. Correspondent The Monmouth University men’s soccer team (4-3-4) traveled to Charlottesville, Virginia on Oct. 5 to compete against their highest ranked opponent in school history — No. 6 University of Virginia. And with an inspired effort, the Hawks tied the Cavaliers, 2-2, in a game that lasted 110 minutes. “This was the biggest result I believe in the program’s history here at Monmouth,” said second-year head coach Rob McCourt. “We stuck to and executed our game plan, and were very unlucky to not come away with a win. Virginia was not only undefeated at home, but they had yet to let up a goal. It is also rare for them to lose or tie there.” Monmouth senior Kevin Hartwyk broke the scoreless game in the 50th minute to put the Hawks in front 1-0. Hartwyk received a cross pass and shot the ball on goal. The Virginia goalie deflected the ball back in Hartwyk’s direction, and he calmly headed the ball to the back of the net. “Kevin used workmanlike effort to break through a tackle, and it paid off with a hardworking goal,” said McCourt. Less than two minutes later, the Cavaliers tied the game and continued to put pressure on Monmouth’s senior netminder, Art Satterwhite. Six minutes after tying the game at 1-1, Virginia took a 2-1 lead. “When they took the lead, it became a trying time for us, but our guys stuck by their guns and did not allow it to get ugly,” McCourt said. “They held firm and were able to establish a rhythm.” With only seven minutes remaining, two freshmen, Ryan Castle and Rob LaRocca, were responsible for tying the game up at 2-2. Castle scored his first career goal off a feed from LaRocca. “Ryan showed great poise for a freshman, and it was a great finish to force the game into OT,” said McCourt. Neither team could tally another goal in the two 10-minute overtime periods, though the Cavaliers outshot Monmouth 5-0 in overtime. “We had pretty good chances in both overtimes to come away with a victory. We played solid defense and created scoring opportunities. Overall, it was an exciting game,” McCourt said. Going into the contest, Virginia was 7-1-1 with a home record of 5-0-1 and were coming off a 2-0 victory against second-ranked North Carolina. Last season, Virginia advanced to the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals. This was not the only time the Hawks competed in Virginia versus a ranked program this season. Back in September, the Blue and White participated in the VCU/Nike Alltell Classic, where they lost 3-1 to then 11th-ranked Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. As to why McCourt scheduled two games against top-25-ranked opponents, he said, “I have solid relationships with both of their schools’ coaches, and the games give us great experience. We look forward to them the most, they help us with recruiting and add more credibility to our program.” McCourt was an assistant coach for the VCU Rams from 2002-03. As of now, Monmouth is 4-3-4 overall, 1-0-1 in NEC play, and tied for third in the conference with seven conference games to go. Monmouth will be on the road for two games this week. They will first face off against Fairleigh Dickinson on the Friday and then Sacred Heart on the Sunday. They return home on next Thursday to battle Central Connecticut State at 3 p.m. Hawk notes ... The Hawks have five shutouts in 2005, two of which are from 0-0 draws. The other three came in victories against Manhattan (1-0), Rider (5-0) and most recently, St. Francis (N.Y.) (1-0). Monmouth has competed in five overtime games this season, all of which went into double overtime and are 0-1-4 when they go the full 110-minutes. The last time Monmouth competed in the NEC Tournament was in 1999. In 1990, the Hawks were the NEC regular-season and tournament champions.