GREENSBORO, NC – Hermann Award candidate Randi Patterson scored a career-high three goals as UNCG bounced back from an opening game loss to dominate Charlotte, 4-0, in men's soccer action at UNCG Soccer Stadium on Monday night.
Patterson, a junior from Hackensack, NJ, scored three times on Monday night to give him four in UNCG's first two games. He tallied once in UNCG's 3-2 double overtime loss to UNC Wilmington on Thursday night. He now has 34 goals for his career, moving him into 11th place on the UNCG career goal-scoring list. With his three-goal effort on Monday night, Patterson passed Hilmar Bjornson (32 from 1989-92) and Carl Fleming (33 from 1985-88) on the UNCG career list.
The Spartans were dominant from start to finish on Monday night, outshooting the 49ers (0-2) by a 25-7 margin. Patterson opened the scoring at 19:42. He opened the sequence with a shot from the left side of the box, which he miskicked, putting the ball through the goal mouth. However, Michael FitzGerald got the ball near the right post, passed it back across to Patterson for the open net tally.
UNCG (1-1) took a 2-0 lead just 1:03 before halftime. Henning Jonasson garnered a loose ball about 30 yards from the goal, and began a 3-on-2 push. Jonason just kept on going, however, and scored on a blast from 10 yards out to make it a two-goal margin at the intermission. It was the first collegiate goal for the Icelander.
Things didn't get better for Charlotte in the second half. The 49ers, who were outshot 12-2 in the first half and didn't record a shot in the first 34 minutes of play, opened the second half with a couple of scoring chances. However, goalkeeper Daniel Burk was hit with a red card when he took Patterson's legs out during a breakway, causing the 49ers to play a man down for the rest of the night.
UNCG took advantage, peppering Tim Seibert with shots the rest of the way. Seibert did record eight saves, some of which came on point blank shots. However, Patterson tallied twice to put the game away. Egill Atlason intercepted a clearing pass and fed it up the right sideline to D.J. McCurry. McCurry then crossed the ball into the box to Patterson, who hit a blast from eight yards out for a 3-0 UNCG advantage at 68:11.
Patterson closed out the scoring with 9:38 to play when he scored off a corner kick sequence. Scott Jones, another Hermann Trophy candidate, started it off when his corner kick cleared the crowd in front of the net, but was chased down by freshman Thomas Campbell. Campbell, who played on the same New Jersey club team as Patterson, fed the ball back into the box, where Patterson hammered it home to complete his hat trick.
Jay Benfield made five saves in net for UNCG to record his first shutout of the season and the sixth of his career.
With the win, UNCG avoided its first 0-2 start as a Division I member. The Spartans last began a season 0-2 in 1989 as an NCAA Division II school, losing to Division I foes North Carolina State and Duke to open the season.
The Spartans will hit the road for the Brown Tournament next weekend. UNCG will face Brown on Friday night before a big match-up with Connecticut on Sunday.
AGATE
SCORE BY PERIODS
Charlotte...0...0...- 0
UNCG......2...2...- 4
SCORING SUMMARY: UNCG - Patterson (FitzGerald), 19:42; UNCG - Jonason (unassisted), 43:57. UNCG - Patterson (McCurry, Atlason), 68:11; UNCG - Patterson (Campbell, Jones), 80:32. SHOTS: UNCG 25, CHAR 7. SAVES: UNCG 5 (Benfield 5), CHAR 14 (Burk 6, Seibert [62:26] 8). CORNER KICKS: UNCG 6, CHAR 10. FOULS: UNCG 17, CHAR 18.
- UNCG -
