Nov. 5, 2006

Box Score

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The Rhode Island men's soccer team claimed its second-consecutive Atlantic 10 Championship title with a 2-0 win over top-seeded Saint Louis on Sunday, November 5. Senior Jeffrey Gonsalves (Markham, Ontario) scored the game-winner for the Rams, while freshman goalkeeper Chris Pennock (Middlesborough, England) picked up his fourth shutout of the season, and second in as many games.

With time ticking down in the first half, Gonsalves, the A-10 Offensive Player of the Year, sent an unassisted shot past SLU's Ross Kaufman for a 1-0 Rhody lead at 38:11. Gonsalves fired away from about eight yards out and beat Kaufman for his league-leading 17th goal of the season.

URI tallied the insurance goal just five minutes into the second half when junior Lukasz Tumicz (Bisztynek, Poland) chipped a long pass from classmate Danleigh Borman (Cape Town, South Africa) over Kaufman and into the back of the net.

Prior to today's contest, the Billikens, who entered the game with a #8 national ranking, had not lost a match since September 22. Additionally, SLU had allowed just two goals in its last six games, combined. The Billikens did outshoot (13-6) and out-corner (10-1) Rhode Island, but were unable to get a shot past Pennock, who posted back-to-back shutouts (over Richmond and Saint Louis) in his first A-10 Tournament.

"Saint Louis is a very, very good team," Head Coach John O'Connor said. "It took an extraordinary effort for us to win. Our boys just played their hearts out and we able to keep our composure and fight through to the finish."

Gonsalves, Borman, sophomore Adam Howarth (Isle of Wight, England) and juniors Geoffrey Cameron (Attleboro, Mass.) and Callum Bissett (Pencaitland, Scotland) all were named to the 11-player All-Championship Team. Borman, who scored the lone goal in Rhody's 1-0 semifinal win over Richmond and assisted on Tumicz' goal today, was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

"We've been talking to Danleigh this week about producing more," O'Connor added. "He certainly stepped up to the challenge and had a great tournament. Chris was solid in net, as always, and our defense made his job a lot easier. Adam just played ridiculously well out there."

With the win, Rhode Island receives the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Selections and pairings will be released tomorrow (Monday, November 6) between 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time.  First Round action is slated to be played on either November 10 or 11 on campus sites (TBD).

Be sure to check www.GoRhody.com for details as they become available.