The No. 11 Virginia men's soccer team will kick off the 2002 ACC Championship today against unranked Duke. The match will take place at 3 p.m. in Cary, N.C., a small town 20 miles south of Durham and deep in Blue Devil territory.
The fourth-seeded Cavaliers (13-5, 3-3 ACC) hope to repeat their win earlier this season over the fifth-seeded Blue Devils (11-6-1, 3-3). On Oct. 20, Virginia handily defeated Duke 3-1 in a game in which the Cavaliers scored two goals in the first 11 minutes.
"The Duke game was the turning point for us," Virginia Coach George Gelnovatch said. "We really started to play well."
Since its victory over Duke, Virginia has won five straight games, including a critical win over No. 10 Maryland that evened the Cavaliers' conference record to 3-3.
Virginia will enter the 2002 ACC Championship, however, in quite a different position than it is accustomed to. Last year's squad, for example, was undefeated and ranked second in the nation heading into the ACC championship.
The Cavaliers have had an up-and-down 2002 season that included a four-game losing streak, a perfect home record, and a national ranking that has ranged from unranked to number one.
Virginia ended the regular season strongly on a seven-game winning streak, and looks to continue its solid play tonight and into the next round of the tournament.
"We lost so many in the beginning, every game was like a must-win game for us," senior forward Ryan Gibbs said. "So, we're winning now."
This will be the last ACC Tournament for Gibbs and six other members of the Virginia men's soccer team.
"All the seniors, particularly Ryan [Gibbs], have been great for the program," Gelnovatch said. "When we get to the postseason, he'll be at his best for us."
Virginia also will rely heavily on junior forward Alecko Eskandarian, who scored his 22nd goal of the season Friday in Virginia's 6-0 rout of Temple. Eskandarian leads the nation in both goals per game (1.38) and points per game (3.0) -- but the fact that he never has scored in ACC tournament play will provide him extra motivation against Duke today.
Duke's offense is led by junior forward Jordan Cila, who has 21 points, and hot-footed sophomore forward Owoicho Adogwa, who has scored a goal in six of Duke's eight last matches. Defensively, the Blue Devils have given up an average of 1.3 goals per game, slightly worse than the 1.2 goals per game that the Cavaliers have allowed.
Competition in this year's ACC Tournament will be fierce, with five of the seven participating teams ranked within the top 25 nationally.
"All the teams are as close as they've ever been," Gelnovatch said. "Of course you always want to get that one seed and get the bye."
Top seed Wake Forest, which has the bye in the first round, enters this year's ACC Tournament in a position eerily similar to Virginia last season. The undefeated and nationally top-ranked Demon Deacons will face the winner of the Virginia-Duke match tomorrow at
5:30 p.m.
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