Knowing full-well the difficulties any team faces in defeating a conference opponent three times in the same year, No. 4 Virginia (18-5-1) came out with every intention of distancing itself early from No. 17 Duke (18-5-0) in the NCAA quarterfinals. With a diving header from forward Ian Holder just 45 seconds into the game, that's exactly what the Cavaliers did. Unfortunately for Virginia, Holder was offsides and the team's newfound confidence vanished as quickly as it appeared.
The Blue Devils rode that wave of momentum all the way to the College Cup as they paced the Cavaliers 3-0 Saturday night in front of over 4,000 Virginia supporters who battled the near-freezing temperatures at Klöckner Stadium.
One of Virginia's strengths all season had been its ability to score off of junior Hunter Freeman's incredible free kicks. Saturday, however, it was Duke who capitalized first when Blue Devil freshman Michael Videira found teammate Danny Kramer far post for a one-timer past Virginia goalkeeper Ryan Burke and a one goal lead.
"I really feel like the key to the game is them scoring first," Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. "We went into a little bit of a funk after they scored. We were going at it and going at it, then after their restart, boom. It's 1-0."
The Blue Devils took advantage of a surprised Cavalier squad less than 10 minutes later when Duke freshman Tomek Charowski made a great cut to clear some room from a Virginia defender and lifted a shot to the near-post past Burke. Now down 2-0, the Cavaliers appeared to awake from their slumber and began pounding the Duke defenders relentlessly toward the end of the half. Their efforts, however, were fruitless as Virginia headed into halftime still down by two.
"We did not want to get ourselves in a position where we had to chase the game," Gelnovatch said. "They are a first half team. At this time of year, trying to dig yourself out of a 2-0 hole, it's tough to do."
To their credit, the Cavaliers once again came out and took it to the Blue Devils following the break. On numerous occasions, Virginia had free kick opportunities just outside their opponent's box. But Duke's taller back line (i.e. 6-foot-5-inch defender Chris Loftus), proved capable time and again of defending Freeman and his magic crosses.
"A few times we were two inches in front of the ball or two inches behind," Freeman said. "I thought we had a lot of good chances off restarts. But for one reason or another, we just weren't clicking like we usually do."
After Virginia changed formation later in the second half in an attempt to get more offensive players into the game, Duke tallied its third and final goal off a great play from Loftus. Attacking an undermanned Virginia defense, Loftus used a step-over move to gain clearance on the right side of the box and proceeded to deliver a great ball to the foot of freshman Spencer Wadsworth, who deposited it under Burke for the game's final goal.
Ironically, Virginia did have another chance to climb back into the game. With five minutes remaining, Holder once again slipped behind the defense and drove a header past Duke's senior goalkeeper Justin Trowbridge. But in a fitting ending to a frustrating game for the Cavaliers, Holder -- and for that matter Virginia's season -- was called offsides.
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