DANVILLE, Va. Two early first-half goals doomed the SVU Men's Soccer team to a 5-0 loss to Averett. The first goal against the Knights came 2:34 in to the game, when the Averett attacker slipped a ball past keeper Ben Mays. Southern Virignia could not rebound fast enough and surrendered a second two minutes later.

"Those two goals took us out right away," said Head Coach Tom Longenecker. "We could not get any momentum, and Averett did a great job in pressing us all game."

The third goal against the Knights came at the 33:59 mark of the first, and finished off the game against the Knights. The Knight defense continued to face shots, but held strong for a large portion of the game, until the 70th minute when Averett was again able to put another point on the board.

"I'm proud of the fact that our guys regrouped and fought all the way. After those first two goals, we were shell-shocked, but we came out of it and made it a game," said Longenecker. "We were able to hold their offense for good amount of time. We just need to get our offense on track to counter the threat, and give our defense breathing room. It will be something for us to work on this next week."

Averett finished off the scoring in the 79th minute. All told, the Cougars recorded 24 shots, while the Knights could only muster 3.

"When I look at the shot disparity, I know we have a lot of work to do," said Longenecker. "This does not feel good. I hope the guys remember this feeling, and work to improve. We play Averett again later in the season, so there will have to be improvement from everyone if we want to avoid a repeat of this experience."

The Knights are back in action Sept. 23 as they look to improve on their 2-3 record when they travel to play at Chowan. Game time is scheduled for 4:00.