The Virginia men's soccer team wanted to prove what a difference a year can make -- and they did just that.
By shutting out their two opponents, Marshall and Long Island, in this weekend's Virginia Soccer Classic, the Cavaliers proved that their sophomore goalie, Ryan Burke, and their veteran defensive line have only gotten stronger with time.
By scoring five goals in two games, the Cavaliers proved that a year's experience puts balls in the net. And by achieving these accomplishments in their first two games, Virginia put an exclamation mark on their assertion that this season will be very different from the last.
"At this time last year, I was saying to the team, 'We can't get scored on first,'" Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. "Now we're talking about getting the second goal [earlier]. It's a little bit different, and it's a positive thing."
While Virginia was able to knock out its opponents fairly systematically this weekend, the results were nowhere near as impressive as Maryland's 5-0 and 6-0 wins against the same teams. In Sunday's game against Long Island, Virginia hovered with a 1-0 lead for nearly 80 minutes, keeping the Blackbirds from racking up points on the board.
"The big story, what Maryland did, is they got the second goal," Gelnovatch said. "If we score the second goal, which we should have in the first half, that game is over. You get the third and all of a sudden the roof caves in."
Luckily, while the offense let several key opportunities pass them by, the defensive line and Burke were able to thwart Long Island's attempts to get on the board.
"He made a couple quality saves to make sure its still 1-0," Gelnovatch said of his goalkeeper. "I expect it. I don't think its any surprise. We expect him to be good. He's done real well."
While the team still struggles to capitalize on many offensive opportunities, Virginia's leading scorer from 2003, Adam Cristman, showed this weekend that he will most likely be an even more influential force in 2004.
In this weekend's two games, Cristman put three goals in the net -- it took the sophomore a month to reach the same point last season. Cristman's goal in Sunday's game came four minutes after kickoff. The Cavaliers' second goal came with less than eight minutes to go, when senior Zane Hill put one in the upper-left corner.
"[Cristman's] got almost half of what he had last year," Gelnovatch said. "I think, the way he's going, he's going to accomplish 12 or 15 goals."
Cristman's physical strength, footwork and ability to position himself in front of the goal make it possible for him to be a target for his teammates as well as someone who is able to create opportunities on his own.
Friday night's 3-0 lead over Marshall gave Gelnovatch the opportunity to put some new faces on the field as well, especially up front. Five of the team's 11 freshmen saw playing time in Friday's game. One of them also logged minutes on Sunday. Freshman midfielder Jeremy Barlow started Sunday's game, despite not having played on Friday.
Junior Chefik Simo also made his debut for the Cavaliers on Friday after sitting out last season. Simo was a much-hyped transfer from Furman University but was forced to rehabilitate in 2003 after suffering a leg injury in a car accident.
"It was always inspiring to see him working out in the training room trying to get back on the field," senior defender Matt Oliver said. "To see him finally do it just made everything come true."
Next weekend the Cavaliers will continue to focus on setting themselves apart from last year's slow start in the tournaments, as they head to the Midwest to face Cincinatti and Saint Louis.
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