At 8:30 this morning, the Virginia men's soccer team will gather at the U-Hall parking lot to board a bus for the airport. The Cavaliers are journeying across the country to open their season by competing in the Adidas Classic hosted by the University of California-Santa Barbara. They are scheduled to open the tournament in a Friday evening matchup against UC-Riverside and then close the tournament with a highly anticipated contest against UC-Santa Barbara.
"Everyone's pretty excited both about going to California and starting the season," junior forward Adam Cristman said. "It's fun to play against teams that you don't play a lot during the regular season. Trips like this make the team closer because we get away from all the distractions of being back here and hanging out with other people. It's a good opportunity for everyone."
The UC-Santa Barbara Gauchos are ranked fourth in the preseason poll of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. Virginia is ranked sixth in the same poll. Last season, the Gauchos played in the NCAA championship game against Indiana to a 1-1 double-overtime tie but lost the national title on penalty kicks. Santa Barbara won a nation's best 21 games in 2004. Virginia faces a formidable early season test against this talented Santa Barbara squad. The Gauchos return six starters from last year, including four All-Big West honorees.
"We all watched Santa Barbara last year in the Final Four and championship game," Cristman said. "They're a good team. They pressure fast and they're pretty quick, but this year it's a new team and it's early in the season so I'm not expecting them to be quite as sharp as they were."
Virginia has played against the Gauchos once before. In 1985, Virginia won the contest 2-0. Santa Barbara's current head coach Tim Vom Steeg was a freshman on the Gauchos squad at the time.
The UC-Riverside Highlanders are a much lesser-known entity. They also are a member of the Big West conference and finished with a 7-10-1 record in 2004. The Cavaliers have not had much of a chance to study the Highlanders.
"We have no scouting report," Cristman said. "I know nothing about UC-Riverside."
Cristman, who led the Cavaliers with nine goals last season, missed both preseason games due to a minor injury. He said he has recovered almost completely and is ready to play in California.
"I'm feeling good so far," Cristman said. "Since having the injury, I've played pretty well in practice and I've been really focused. It's nice to have gotten some rest, but at the same time, some of the training I missed might have been helpful. I'm excited to be out on the right as a forward. It's going to be a different experience and possibly good."
Coach George Gelnovatch said he is looking forward to the opportunity to get an even better feel for his team at this early stage of the season.
"Just like everyone else at this time of year, we're still trying to figure some things out," Gelnovatch said. "We know we're playing a very quality team [Santa Barbara] on the complete opposite side of the country on their home field, so that's going to make it very tough for us. It'll be an early test for sure. The season is a long ride and this trip will help us figure some things out."
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