Sophomore midfielder Adrian Papaluca (Winston Hills, Australia - pictured) scored on a half-volley from 20 yards out with just eight seconds remaining in regulation to give second-seeded Hofstra a dramatic 1-0 victory over top-seeded Old Dominion in the title game of the CAA Men's Soccer Championship on Sunday afternoon at ODU Soccer Stadium.
It was the second straight CAA men's soccer championship for the Pride (14-4-3), who also defeated ODU 1-0 in last year's title match. The Monarchs, who are ranked #7 in the nation, lost for only the second time in their past 14 games and fell to 15-3-2 overall. Old Dominion was the highest ranked team that Hofstra has ever defeated, eclipsing the No. 10 ranking held by Boston University in 1997. The Pride also improved to 8-2 in its last 10 meetings against nationally-ranked teams, dating back to last year.
"It's wonderful. I'm just so proud of the way the boys kept trying today," Hofstra head coach Richard Nuttall said. "I think ODU is one of the top five or six teams in the country. It was a great game between two great teams."
With less than 20 seconds to play, Hofstra's Constantinos Christoudias (Nicosia, Cyprus) sent a corner kick into the middle of the box, where it was headed out by an ODU defender. The ball took one bounce and landed at the feet of Papaluca, who drilled a 20-yard shot into the upper right corner. The goal was just the third of the season for Papaluca, who also netted the "golden goal" with 2:23 remaining in overtime as Hofstra beat James Madison 3-2 in the CAA semifinals last Friday.
Papaluca transferred to Hofstra after playing his freshman season at Division II Southampton College, which closed its doors at the end of the 2004-05 academic year. Papaluca joined the Pride and scored the game-winner in the 88th minute of his collegiate debut, a 2-1 win over Stony Brook back on Sept. 1. He suffered a couple of nagging injuries in the middle of the season, but recovered in time to get the game-winning goals in both the semifinals and finals of the CAA Tournament.
ODU, which had not been shutout in a match since playing a scoreless tie against Clemson on Sept. 11, had its best opportunity with 4:38 left. Junior Edson Elcock received a pass in the middle of the box and launched a hard 12-yard shot toward the left side of the goal, but it was knocked off the line by Papaluca.
ODU out-shot Hofstra 6-4 as the teams battled through a scoreless first half. Hofstra senior goalkeeper Matthias Gumbrecht (Hemhofen, Germany) charged to the top of the box to break up a pair of potential Monarchs' scoring chances, forcing a shot attempt from Brian Cvilikas wide with 20 minutes left in the period and smothering a shot from Edson Elcock with eight minutes remaining. The Pride's best opportunity came with nine minutes to go in the half when sophomore Chris Cox (Nottingham, England) missed wide from 12 yards out after working a nice give-and-go with senior Matthew Telling (Rotherham, England) along the left side.
Gumbrecht finished the game with four saves to pick up his eighth shutout of the season and sixth in the last seven games. Connelly had one save for Old Dominion. Junior back Gary Flood (Hauppauge, NY) was named the CAA Most Outstanding Player, and was joined on the All-Tournament team by Gumbrecht, Papaluca and Telling. Making the squad from ODU were sophomore David Horst, senior Trevor McEachron and Connelly. Also on the team were James Madison's Kurt Morsink and Mike Tuddenham and UNCW's Sam Leger and Adam Currey.
Freshman back Corey Gudmundson (Dallas, TX) also had a strong effort for the Pride, marking Cvilikas, the 2005 CAA Player of the Year, for the entire match and keeping him off the scoreboard. Other than the one breakaway, which came on a counter attack, Cvilikas was unable to shake free of Gudmundson for most of the match.
The title was the latest accomplishment in what has been an outstanding fall season for Hofstra sports. The Women's Soccer team won the CAA Championship with a 1-0 win over Virginia Commonwealth last weekend and advanced to its first-ever NCAA Tournament, while the Hofstra Volleyball team won the regular season title and will host the CAA Tournament next weekend.
The NCAA selection show will take place on Monday at 4 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPNEWS. The Pride, which is 9-1-2 in its last 12 games with the only loss at Old Dominion on Oct. 16, could potentially host an opening round game next weekend.
