The Virginia men's soccer team packs its bags and heads to North Carolina this weekend to take on the NC State Wolfpack in a key mid-season ACC match-up. Kickoff is 2 p.m. Sunday.
The Cavaliers (4-4, 2-0 ACC) will head to Raleigh on a losing note, after succumbing to William & Mary on Wednesday, with the trip being one of their few road contests this season.
Virginia's three-game winning streak, which included wins over Wake Forest and North Carolina, two of the nation's top-ranked teams, came to a close Wednesday night following a 3-2 overtime loss to in-state rival William & Mary.
After the game, coach George Gelnovatch said that "giving up dumb fouls and giving [William & Mary] the opportunity to have restarts and corner kicks" hurt the Cavaliers.
"They scored three goals on three restarts," Gelnovatch said.
On a positive note, Wednesday night's game saw the breakthrough of several Virginia players, most of them freshman.
Junior defender Jeff Tuman scored the first goal of his collegiate career on an assist from freshman Will Hall. Hall's assist was also the first of his career at Virginia.
Freshman Sean Hinkle added a tally to the scoreboard for the first time as a Cavalier and as a collegiate athlete, scoring on a pass from teammate Mike Littlefield. Hinkle's goal eventually sent the game into overtime.
"We just wanted to keep our shape, stay compact, and not get to spread out" in overtime, junior defender Jeff Tuman said.
Freshman goalkeeper Ryan Burke also had a game-high three saves in his debut for Virginia, keeping the game tied from the second half on, until William & Mary scored the winning goal off a strong shot in overtime.
NC State (4-4, 1-1 ACC) comes into this weekend's match riding on a two-game winning streak. They gained their first ACC win of the season over Clemson last Sunday afternoon, 2-0, and defeated Campbell, 3-0, on Wednesday night.
Sophomore goalkeeper Jorge Gonzalez has been impressive recently for the Wolfpack. Gonzalez was in net for both shutout victories, recording four saves in each game.
The match-up is important for the standing of both teams in the ACC. While the Cavaliers look to stay undefeated in conference play, NC State hopes to go above .500 for the first time this season.
The Wolfpack lost to Maryland 1-0 earlier this season in College Park, while also losing to William & Mary in September at the Duke Adidas Tournament in Durham.
To prepare for NC State, Gelnovatch said the team will watch tape of the William & Mary game and observe how, he said, "the defense crumbled and [William & Mary] basically pounded us into the goal."
Sunday's game will mark the return of junior midfielder Kirk Dinnall, after serving a two-game suspension. His suspension was the result of a hard foul on Wake Forest senior midfielder Jeremiah White.
"From the Wake Forest incident, [Dinnall] is serving the second game of his suspension [against William & Mary]," Gelnovatch said. "He'll be eligible to play against NC State."
Virginia leads the all-time series against NC State 37-15-6. The Cavaliers have outscored the Wolfpack 144-75 in those matches.
Last year's meeting in Charlottesville between the two clubs resulted in a 4-0 victory for the Cavaliers, giving them their first ACC victory of the season.
Sunday's contest is set to start at 2:00 p.m. at NC State's Method Road Soccer Complex in Raleigh, with both teams looking for an ACC victory.
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