George Washington University

Aug. 25, 2011

WASHINGTON - Sophomore midfielder Bailey Hinners helped set up two goals as the George Washington men's soccer team shut out District rival Catholic, 3-0, on Thursday in its last of three exhibition matches heading into the 2011 season.

The contest was a rather scattered affair as pre-match rain left the newly renovated Mount Vernon Field turf slick with moisture. The two teams' struggled to string passes together at the onset, with Catholic relying on its counterattacks early. However, GW benefited from a first-half goal as its defense held, and halftime adjustments allowed the Colonials to maintain control as the pitch dried out over the final 45 minutes.

GW senior Yoni Berhanu tallied the game-winning goal in the 34th minute with a blast from 25 yards that deflected off a CUA defender past goalkeeper Cam McGrory. Hinners centered a pass to Berhanu, who fired on the turn and put the driven shot over McGrory's leap to his right.

Freshman Farhan Khan linked with sophomore left back Abdul Shaban in the 74th minute to put the Colonials ahead 2-0. Shaban's pass down the left sideline hit Khan in stride, and the rookie was able to turn his defender in the box and fire a hard shot past the goalkeeper from eight yards away.

Fellow freshman Joe Holleran completed the scoring in the 87th minute with a well-placed, left-footed strike from just inside the box. Hinners again initiated the scoring chance, this time with a powerful header forward onto junior Zach Abaie. Abaie cleverly evaded his mark and laid a pass back to Holleran, who calmly lined his shot across the box into the upper left corner.

GW's goalkeeping trio of juniors Brendan Lafferty and Alejandro Almodovar and freshmen Luke Farrell all saw action and kept the clean sheet although relatively untested on the Cardinals' eight shots. The Colonials ripped off 11 shots, eight of which reached target, and forced Sean Libby into three saves and Torsten Meuschke two.

Catholic's best opportunity came in the 20th minute when Brian Maher broke loose on the left side of the box, but his whistling shot past Lafferty struck the crossbar.

The Colonials - victors in two of their three exhibition matches - now have a week to prepare for their 2011 season opener on Friday, Sept. 1 at the DC College Cup. GW opens the 11th annual event against American next Friday at 5:00 pm in Fairfax, Va., on the campus of George Mason University.