Oct. 14, 2011

Box Score

CINCINNATI - Sophomore Matt Walker scored early and senior Andrew Boisvert tacked on a score in the second half as the Xavier men's soccer team defeated Richmond, 2-0, for its first conference win of the season.

The Musketeers captured the victory in front of home crowd of 578 and improved to 7-2-2 overall and 1-1-1 in the Atlantic 10. Richmond suffered its second conference setback and moved to 2-9-1 overall and 1-2-0 in the conference.

"Based on our opponent, some of the players we didn't have available and last weekend's results, I think tonight came together as well as I could have hoped for," head coach Andy Fleming said. "Matt Walker scored a great goal early which allowed us to exhale. We made some timely plays and converted a nice opportunity late to kill the game."

Walker notched the Musketeers' first goal at the 4:04 mark by slipping a shot past the Spiders' goalkeeper freshman Thomas Hand. It was the third goal of the year for the midfielder, which have come over the last five games. Junior forward Luke Spencer and freshman Darin Kruzich created the goal by moving the ball across the field to Walker as he moved towards net.

Boisvert's first-career goal came in the 80th minute when he ripped a pass from redshirt sophomore Hudson Jetton. He stepped inside the goal box as he received the pass and laced a right footer to secure the Musketeers' first win over Richmond since 2006.

Senior Ryan Engelmann got his first start in goal this season and helped navigate Xavier to its first shutout against the Spiders, which was also the first shutout of his career. Engelmann made two saves and pushed his record to 1-0-1. Hand (1-7-1) made four saves in the losing effort for Richmond.

"Ryan Engelmann got his first-career shutout in goal, Andrew Boisvert scored his first-career goal and Sean Ryan was again steady in the back," Fleming said. "With Sunday our final home game, it was fitting for our three seniors to be catalysts tonight."

Xavier closes out its home schedule at 1 p.m. on Sunday against George Washington(5-4-2, 3-0-0), who lost to Dayton 3-0 on Friday. Boisvert, Engelmann, and senior Sean Ryan will be honored during a pre-game senior day ceremony.

"The players took ownership on Monday and we had a strong week of training, including several guys doing extra video and technical work on their own," Fleming said. "As the week unfolded, we put ourselves in a great position for success tonight. Tomorrow we will prepare to play a hot and confident George Washington team who sits atop the league."

Spencer and Walker had three shots apiece for Xavier who finished the night with 16. Jonathon Stephenson had three of Richmond's 13 shots. Walker led all players with two shots on goal.

It was a fairly clean game for both sides as 16 fouls were called between the two squads. A yellow card was given to Richmond's Brandon Hauser in the 61st minute.

Sunday's home finale will be streamed beginning at 12:45 p.m. on GoXavier.com.