George Washington University

Box Score

WASHINGTON, DC (Oct. 19, 2001) - Sophomore newcomer Arnar Johannsson (Reykjavik, Iceland/C.C. of Iceland) netted two scores and an assist to lead the Colonials over the visiting La Salle Explorers at George Washington's Mt. Vernon Athletic Complex Friday evening.

The reserve forward earned conference honors last week when he was named the Atlantic 10's Co-Rookie of the Week for his performance against Xavier on Oct. 5. Johannsson continued his solid play off the bench with two second half scores including the game-winner.

GW (6-5-0, 3-3-0) took an early lead scoring at the seven-minute mark when another newcomer, and former Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week honoree, sophmore midfielder Jeremy Catlin (Clarksville, MD/Oakland Mills HS) put home a rebound off a shot by senior midfielder Matt Pilkington (Manchester, Eng./Sheffield Hallam). Sophomore forward Fabio Andrade (Stoughton, MA/Xaverian Brothers Acad.) fed Pilkington on the play, recording his team-leading fourth assist. Andrade returned to the starting line-up after only seeing spot duty due to injury.

The Colonials would take the 1-0 lead into halftime, as the two teams traded runs down the field the entire opening half. La Salle keeper Stash Graham and GW's Nick Parypinski (Columbia, MD/Wilde Lake) combined for 11 saves in the first half on 18 shots overall.

The Explorers would get on the board ten minutes into the second half when La Salle's Lou Daniele placed a cross through the box to his teammate Bob Buonochristiano who one-timed it past a diving Parypinski.

With the teams knotted at 1-1, a defensive struggle ensued, each squad refusing to give up the winning score. The floodgates opened for the Colonials when Johannsson scored his first goal of the day in the 78th minute. After receiving a pass from junior midfielder Riccardo Forno (Toronto, Ontario/James Cardinal McGuigan), junior forward Matt Osborne (Bingham, Notts, Eng./Toothill Comprehensive) made a perfect lob pass from outside the box on the left wing to Johannsson on the close right wing. Johannsson out-leapt his defender and served it over the charging keeper.

The Colonial offense began to fire on all cylinders following the score, putting the Explorers' defense under constant pressure. GW added two more scores late in the match to pull away from La Salle for good. Freshman Rob Kirchner scored his first collegiate goal when Pilkington placed a high pass into the Explorer's box. Johannsson headed the pass to Kirchner, who put the shot between the pipes for the score in the 86th minute.

Johannsson would add his second goal of the game less than three minutes later at the 88:55 mark when an excellent pass from senior defender Ted Tucker (Sylvania, OH/St. John's Jesuit) allowed him to break free behind La Salle's defense on the right wing. Johannsson juked the keeper, and scored from point-blank range.

The Explorers scored on a goal in the final minute of the match to close the gap to 4-2. Brian Blesi put a shot in off the right post when the ball came free during a scramble in the box.

The Colonialslook to continue their winning ways as they host Fordham on Sunday, Oct. 21, at 1:00 pm.