Collegiate Times

On a wet and cold night, the men’s soccer team earned its most decisive win of the season, defeating Longwood 5-1 on Tuesday at Thompson Field.

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The Hokies (5-9-2) scored five unanswered goals beginning in the 31st minute when freshman forward Robert Alberti netted his first of two balls on the night. Alberti hit a turn-around shot in the box that was assisted by freshman midfielder Gregory Cochrane to tie the game.

Despite his team scoring the most goals in a game all season, head coach Michael Brizendine did not allow himself to get too elated with the win.

“It’s nice to be on this side of the result,” head coach Michael Brizendine said. “But, with everything, we can still make improvements. There were things that I didn’t think we did all that well and we gave up an early goal, too.

“I was disappointed with our decision making, the type of balls we were playing out of the back, and the tracking of our men,” Brizendine said. “Things we continue to reiterate and sometimes the players haven’t responded in the way that I’d like.”

The Hokies outshot the Lancers (4-10-2) 16-3 in the game. Senior Tech goalie Stefan Caulfield made one save against a Lancer team that came into the contest boasting an identical record to that of the Hokies.

Two other seniors were able to find their way onto the scoresheet as newly converted forward Brendan Dunn and midfielder James Gilson each scored goals in the final home game of their collegiate careers.

Gilson, who led the Hokies with four shots in the contest, scored in the 79th minute on a penalty kick for his second goal of the season and ninth of his collegiate career.

“He’s really come around,” Brizendine said. “He’s a special player with some gifts. I didn’t know if he was going to play tonight. We were thinking about giving him some rest. Fortunately, we made the decision to give him some minutes and he did a number of positive things tonight.”

Senior defender Alexander Baden, who played his first game for the Hokies in 2005, was held out of the match by his head coach who thought it best to give the senior the night off.

“We wanted to rest him with his knee situation,” Brizendine said. “Plus, we’ve got two very big ACC games coming up so it’s important that he gets some time off. He just needed some ‘R and R.’

Brizendine also noted that he understands how much Caulfield, Dunn, Gilson and Baden have meant to the Tech program and that he was a bit down on Tuesday night with the end to four players’ collegiate coming into plain view.

“These are my boys,” Brizendine said of his seniors. “They came into the program around the same time that I did. There will be a new face on Virginia Tech soccer with them not around next season. They’re great kids and I’m going to miss all the good times that we’ve shared but I know they’re going on to bigger and better things.”

The Hokies will finish the regular season on the road, playing at No. 19 Duke on Saturday before concluding the 2009 campaign at Boston College the following Friday.