THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, June 26, 1995 TAG: 9506260142
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
Darren Eales took a cue from Mother Nature Sunday, raining down on New Orleans and sinking the River Boat Gamblers with a flood of goals in a United Systems of Independent Soccer Leagues professional game at First Colonial High.
With lightning and thunder threatening in the distance, and a steady rain falling, Hampton Roads' leading scorer was unstoppable in a 4-1 victory that likely move the Mariners into third place in the Atlantic Division.
Eales scored all four Mariners goals, registering his third hat trick of the season and possibly moving into the USISL pro scoring lead. Heading into Friday's action, Richard Sharpe of Cocoa Beach had 19 goals. Eales now has 20.
It was obvious early that New Orleans was going down hard.
Roughly three minutes into the game, Eales controlled a badly-played Gamblers clearing attempt and lobbed an easy shot over New Orleans keeper Daryl Shore, who was charging Eales. The two collided, Shore landed hard on the back of his head and was knocked unconscious. He was taken to Virginia Beach General Hospital 20 minutes later with what officials hoped was only a bad concussion.
``I just flicked the ball over him and tried to jump out of his way,'' Eales said. ``I really didn't think we hit that hard. When I got up and looked over, he was out cold.''
With back-up keeper Kevin McOney in the Gamblers goal, Eales and company went to work.
Eales made it 2-0 with 25:14 left in the first after taking a nice pass from Mark Waite and beating two defenders for an easy one-on-one with McOney.
With 4:31 left in the first half, Eales registered the hat trick when he found a loose ball in front of McOney for an easy put-away. Nate Friends - a former U.Va. striker who signed with the Mariners Tuesday - had flicked a nifty one-touch pass to Matt Kirk, who then tried to cross to Eales. Again, New Orleans played the ball poorly, leaving Eales free.
As if that wasn't bad enough, Eales added another goal just 30 seconds into the second half when he broke loose past two defenders and blasted a rocket past McOney.
``It was nice to score on a couple of break-aways,'' said Eales, who was taken out of the game with 24 minutes remaining to rest a pulled hamstring. ``I don't think I've had one of those all year.''
The Gamblers finally got on the board when Tim McMullen crushed a shot past Mariners substitute keeper Pete Sadin with just under 11 minutes left. McMullen had tried a shot seconds earlier, but it was blocked by a defender, leaving Sadin heading in the direction of the first shot and in poor position for the second.
The outcome could have been worse for New Orleans had Hampton Roads not missed two penalty shots. by CNB