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Booters On Victory Road; VMI, R-MC Fall

First-year Men Add Scoring Punch;
Veteran Defense Proves Capable

By Tom Sansonetti
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Wing Bob Aronson Boots Scoring Shot Against Counterparts From East Mennonite

Coach Burris's Soccermen Show Scoring Punch They Lacked Desperately Last Season

Coach Gordon Burris thought a
500 season for his soccer squad
would be creditable, even if it
seemed somewhat out of the
question.

Now his charges are 3-1 after
roaring through the first half of
their schedule and are in contention
for the state championship.

The beginning of this fairy tale
started in the unlikely setting of
Blacksburg, Va., the staid resort
town that claims Virginia
Polytechnical Institute for its very
own.

For it was here that our
underdog booters (four of the
starting eleven were first-yearmen)
whupped the Hokies 2-1 for their
initial victory of the season.

Ignoring the furrowed field and
corn stalk stubs, John Mehtens and
Bob Aronson scored the needed
goals with assists from Frank
Sterdjevich and Jay Conner
respectively.

Returning to home surroundings
for their next encounter, this with
Eastern Mennonite College, the
Cavaliers were japed 4-2. The chief
reason for the loss being the host of
international faces Virginia saw that
day. Eight of Eastern (European)
Mennonite's starting eleven were
foreigners.

Still the game was close until an
official discounted what Virginia
players thought had been a
successful corner kick attempt. The
disallowed goal would have made
the score 3-3, but...

Bob Aronson, the only
fourth-yearman on the squad,
scored both Virginia goals. The first
came on a penalty kick, the second
on an assist from our boy
Sterdjevich.

So the Cavaliers quest for their
first winning season since 1963
took them to Ashland, Va. Here
located between the scenic truck
stops on Interstate 95, resides
Randolph-Macon College for boys.

Randolph-Macon is one of the
top soccer powers in the state this
year. Er, was one of the top soccer
powers in the state this year.

For the Cavaliers not only
knocked off the Yellow Jackets in
mortal combat, they beat them by
a surprising 4-1 count! Two other
goals were disallowed because of
offside infractions.

Randolph-Macon had been
undefeated and had been averaging
four goals a game going into the
contest. Jay Connor, a
first-yearman, popped through two
goals and added an assist for a
highly successful afternoon. Frank
McGoynn duplicated the feat to
account for the Virginia scoring.

This great upset of upsets during
Coach Burris' career as Master of
the Booters was accomplished
mainly through the defense. The
unsung backliners without whom
this victory would not have
possible, blah-blah, were: Mike
Sorenson, Carter Gunn, John
Taylor, John Bakhaus, and Russ
Ketcham. The later has been
kicking balls away from Virginia
goalie Danny Abramson this year.

Speaking of Abramson, the
net-tender made 11 saves during the
contest. Amazingly enough,
Virginia took but nine shots the
entire game! Four for nine! The
Tottenham Hotspurs couldn't
match that kind of shooting.

Yesterday, the Cavaliers upped
their victory total to three with a
2-0 win over VMI in Lexington.
Significantly, Coach Burris found it
within himself to be displeased
despite the score, a luxury he had
never been able to allow himself in
previous years. First-year men Jay
Connor and John Mehtens provided
the two second half goals that won
for Virginia. Bob Aronson assisted
on both.

The victory gave the soccermen
one more win than they had during
the entire regular season last year.
They have one more game against a
state opponent, William & Mary.