With the winds of Hurricane Isabel still churning over the Atlantic, the Virginia soccer team took advantage of a clear, cool night at Klöckner Stadium to defeat Mount St. Mary's 1-0.
The Cavaliers (3-3, 1-0 ACC) overwhelmed the Mountaineers (3-2,0-0 NEC) with intense, physical soccer from the game's opening moments, rarely allowing Mount St. Mary's offense to cross midfield.
"I was very happy with the first half," coach George Gelnovatch said.
The Virginia offense struck early, when junior forward Mike Littlefield headed an assist from midfielder John Hartman into a wide-open goal. Littlefield, a transfer from Coastal Carolina, had 16 goals on the season last year, but last night's point was his first as a Cavalier.
"It feels good to finally get one," Littlefield said. "It takes a little pressure off me, and gives me a little of my confidence back."
Hard work paid off for Littlefield, who said that he and Hartman worked for an extra hour after practice this week to perfect the play that resulted in the only goal for either side last night.
"I hope that broke the seal for him," Gelnovatch said of Littlefield. "I think that as he gets used to playing with us, playing in the ACC and just the whole transition he'll get himself a whole handful of goals."
Virginia created opportunities on goal, recording 27 shots to the Mountaineers' nine, but couldn't capitalize beyond Littlefield's score in the first period. Mount St. Mary's sophomore goalkeeper, Mark Murphy, recorded 12 saves, with several coming in the final minutes of the contest. The Cavaliers peppered Murphy with shots as the clock wound down, but a header by Littlefield that bounced off the goalpost was the closest they came to the back of the net.
Virginia's freshman goalie, Ryan Best, posted his second shutout of the season behind strong support from his more seasoned defense.
"It's a shutout," Gelonovatch said. "I told our guys, you post a shutout, I think we'll find a way to score a goal. We're not a great goal scoring team, but I think we'll find a way to score a goal."
The Cavaliers were undisturbed by the impending hurricane last night, but their schedule has already been altered to accommodate the storm. Saturday's conference match-up with North Carolina, scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday night, has been moved to Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.
"Even with the hurricane, we're going to try to keep out minds clear and work hard in practice this week to get ready for a big, big game," Littlefield said.
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