Typically, sports are all about the team. There are those plays when a player can take the ball unassisted up the field and score. But it's more common, efficient and practical to rely on the team. In soccer, there is not a more telling statistic of team reliance than assists. It shows that the offense is sharing the ball and that the defense cannot focus on one specific player. Right now, Virginia junior defender/midfielder Hunter Freeman has an impressive 13 assists in only 12 games.
Freeman has helped lead No. 15 Virginia to a 10-2 record, and with five games left, he hopes to continue his success in setting up his teammates for shots on goal.
"I just try to put it right around the penalty spot," Freeman said. "Some of our goals have been headed from crosses, and some have kind of been knocked around before we put them in."
Freeman seems to be the sparkplug for Virginia's offensive assists. In comparison to last year, Virginia has scored about the same number of goals per game -- 2.5 in 2003 and 2.4 in 2004. The best indication of an improvement, however, is that at this point in the season, 15 Cavalier soccer players have scored at least one goal, compared to last year's total of only nine. Freeman has been instrumental in distributing balls to other options on the team.
"On all the restarts he's giving us great, I mean world-class balls," Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. "Then we have guys that are really good in the air, and they have a good understanding of where Freeman likes to put those balls. So we've scored lots of balls off of restarts."
Virginia also has dominated its opponents in all offensive categories. They have outscored their opponents nearly three to one (29 goals to their opponents' 10), totaled more points (89 to 28), dished out more assists (31 to 8) and taken more shots (190 to 97).
Virginia hopes to extend its 2-1 record in the ACC against the Clemson Tigers Oct. 17 on Clemson's home field. Clemson has the same conference record as Virginia but has a 6-4 overall mark. The Cavaliers lead the all-time series 20-18-5. In last year's regular season meeting between the two clubs, Virginia won 3-2 in Charlottesville. The squads also faced each other in a thrilling ACC quarterfinal tournament match that ended with Virginia advancing on penalty kicks after a 0-0 tie in regulation.
Even though Freeman's offensive production has increased dramatically, he has not compensated his role as a leader on the defense. Virginia's defense this year has improved and played better together. Last season they allowed an average of 1.2 goals per game. Yet this year they have dropped this average to a stingy 0.8 goals. They have only allowed only a .103 shot percentage compared to last year's .136 mark.
With improved defense and offense, Virginia is turning in a balanced attack against its opponents. This will help prepare the team for an end-of-the-year push to pull even with the ACC-leading No. 16 Blue Devils, whom Virginia faces Oct. 23, and for Sunday's matchup with the Tigers.
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