Richard Bland Takes 5-0 Shutout Past North Carolina Wesleyan

SOUTH PRINCE GEORGE, Va. – Freshman Dusan Stankovic/Belgrade, Serbia scored two penalty-kick goals to lead Richard Bland College to a 5-0 non-conference men's soccer shutout past the visiting North Carolina Wesleyan College reserve team on Tuesday evening at Statesman Field. Sophomore Denzel Speed/Williamsburg, along with freshmen Miguel Ramos/Casal de Cambria, Portugal and Eduardo Pessoa/Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, each added goals for the host Statesman (4-3) against the Battling Bishops (0-1). Richard Bland will play on the road at Region X Conference rival Patrick Henry Community College on Saturday, Sept. 17 at 5:30 p.m. in Martinsville.

"It was a good win today for our guys, a chance to build our confidence level," said third-year head coach Eduardo de Souza. "We played together very well and scored some great goals with some good combinations. We can build something positive from this match, gain more confidence and prepare our minds for a league game on Saturday against a strong opponent."

Richard Bland took an early 1-0 advantage when Ramos scored off a set piece with an assist from a corner kick opportunity taken by freshman Danny Torres/Bucaramanga, Colombia, heading in the goal at 9:00. The Statesmen increased their lead to 2-0 at the intermission after Stankovic was successful on a PK attempt at 39:30, following a foul in the box against the visitors.

Richard Bland doubled its margin with two quick goals to begin the second half. Pessoa tallied the third goal of the match at 54:17, another header off a cross into the box from the right side by Ramos with the assist. Speed made it 4-0 at 56:24 with a long shot from about 40 yards out on the left side that found the back of the net. Stankovic closed out the scoring with another successful PK attempt at 63:10, after another foul whistled inside the box.

Freshman goalkeeper Tomas Fonseca/Torres Vedras, Portugal started and played the entire 90:00 in front of the net for the Statesmen to register the shutout.

Richard Bland took a 19-2 advantage in shots against North Carolina Wesleyan, including 14-0 in attempts on goal. The Statesmen had a 7-2 edge in corner kicks.

Patrick Henry CC is ranked number 18 nationally in this week's NJCAA Division I Men's Soccer Top 20 Poll.