While the successful Cavaliers' season came to a screeching halt Saturday night at the hands of the Duke Blue Devils, one positive thing was abundantly clear. As the majority of the student body laments Virginia's luck on the football field or looks forward with cautious optimism to the basketball season, Virginia has become a serious soccer school again, after a lapse in success since the mid-1990s.
The most telling proof of this was the unbelievable number of people who packed Klöckner Stadium Saturday night. The parking lot meant to accommodate hoards of basketball fans filled to capacity and then some. Devoted fans waited in a line that strung from the gate into the street to see the NCAA quarterfinal match-up between ACC rivals. Many of those fans waited in line until almost half-time before making it through the gate.
From the start, it was clear that this was a crowd that knew its stuff. They reacted to questionable calls from the referee, obviously understanding the rules behind those calls. They were able to shout legitimate complaints, mixed in with the normal obscenities and boos.
Fans were extremely interactive, going crazy with excitement when sophomore Ian Holder put one in the back of the net within the first minute of the game and going crazy with anger when the goal was called back by an offsides penalty.
Hyperaware of what was happening on the field, the rowdy crowd saw every push and every trip, and let nothing go unnoticed. Often at odds with the referee, the crowd seemed to be the voice of the Cavaliers' frustration.
This 4,193-person crowd showed the growing popularity of soccer with its size and enthusiasm. The sport is rapidly becoming a mainstay of American culture whereas it had long been more or less kept overseas.
By far the most popular sport in the world, soccer has fallen by the wayside in the U.S. in favor of the big three -- football, basketball and baseball -- which occupy our collective attention span. However, things are obviously beginning to change.
In 2003, three and a half million children played in youth soccer leagues in the U.S. -- more kids than Little League! As more and more people play soccer in their youth, it becomes less and less shunned as a spectator sport.
I have heard a million and one complaints about soccer being boring to watch, too slow, too long -- this coming from the country that calls baseball its national pastime.
As soccer is coming into its own nationally, the University is proving it is not behind on the trend. In addition to a student body that seems legitimately excited about the success of this year's team, Virginia boasts an extremely promising future.
While the Cavaliers will need to find top-notch replacements for their seniors, most of which come from the backfield, their roster contains a wealth of talented younger players.
The current sophomores and freshmen seem to have made the difference for this team, helping to bring the Cavaliers to where they are now. Even late in the game Saturday, when hope was fading faster than the clock, freshmen including Chris Tierney and David Rosenbaum came off the bench and put more pressure on the Duke defense, creating more opportunities than the team had before it took the field.
With the promising roster and talented coaching staff necessary to have great success on the national level, next year may be the only missing link for the Cavaliers.
And as the team becomes more and more successful, it will not do so under the radar as Saturday night's game proved. Football school, basketball school, take your pick. But don't forget about soccer. No one else in the country is.
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