No. 15 Richard Bland Earns Shutout Past Cape Fear (N.C.) 3-0

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS (YouTube)

SOUTH PRINCE GEORGE, Va. -- Sophomores David Negrin/Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain and Dusan Stankovic/Belgrade, Serbia, along with freshman Umar Mujahid/Meherrin, each scored a goal to lead nationally-ranked No. 15 Richard Bland College to a 3-0 Region X men's soccer shutout victory past Cape Fear (N.C.) Community College on Wednesday evening at the Statesman Soccer Field.  Sophomore Hussein Osman/Charlottesville, along with freshmen Ervin Ikanovic/Tuzla, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Nikola Aleksic/Belgrade, Serbia, each added an assist for the host Statesmen (16-1, 13-1 Region X) against the visiting Sea Devils (8-6, 7-6 Region X).  It was the regular season finale as Richard Bland has attained a school-record 16 wins while claiming the program's first Region X Regular Season Championship and top seed for the upcoming Region X Tournament.

"It was a good performance on a very important day honoring our sophomores who believed in this program, setting high standards not only on the field, but in the classroom," explained fourth-year head coach Eduardo de Souza.  "We played a strong first half today, ensuring a two-goal lead that helped build our confidence toward the first-round game next Tuesday."

Richard Bland took a 1-0 advantage at 29:57 when Negrin scored via a header from a nice crossing pass inside the box by Osman.  Mujahid made it 2-0 at 40:56 on a similar play, though this time with set piece pass coming from Ikanovic for the header, and it was 2-0 at the intermission.  The Statesmen added an insurance goal at 73:51 as Stankovic tallied on yet another header when Aleksic executed an outstanding throw-win from the right sideline.

Negrin has scored four goals this season, while Mujahid has six goals and Stankovic has 11 goals.  Osman has seven assists this season, while Ikanovic has five assists and Aleksic has seven assists, as well.

Sophomore keeper Tomás Fonseca/Torres Vedras, Portugal, aided once-again by the outstanding play of his defensive teammates, took care of the rest with one save toward the team's 10th shutout this season.  Fonseca started in front of the net for the Statesmen and played the entire contest for his eighth shutout.

Richard Bland took a 15-4 advantage in shots against Cape Fear, including 9-1 in attempts on goal, though the Sea Devils had a 5-3 edge in corner kicks.

Richard Bland and Cape Fear were meeting for the 11th time in the sport of men's soccer, and the Statesmen lead the all-time series, 7-4, including seven-straight wins against the Sea Devils.

Richard Bland recognized its eight sophomores during a special pre-game ceremony, including defender Finn Busse of Kiel, Germany, goalkeeper Tomás Fonseca of Torres Vedras, Portugal, midfielder Jamie McAvoy of Ayr, Scotland, midfielder Hussein Osman of Charlottesville, defender Andrew Skaer of South Riding, midfielder Dusan Stankovic of Belgrade, Serbia, midfielder Danny Torres of Bucaramanga, Colombia and midfielder Agustin Vassallo of Neuquen, Argentina.

Richard Bland will have a few days off before hosting a Region X Tournament first-round match against in-state rival Patrick Henry Community College on Tuesday, October 24, at 3 p.m. at the Statesman Soccer Field.