The recent expansion of the ACC has garnered much attention, as a traditionally basketball-oriented conference has stepped up into the elite of the power football conferences with the addition of Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College. Large amounts of newsprint have been devoted to analysis of the expansion's effect on both of these revenue sports.
It is therefore easy to forget that the expansion of the ACC has also altered the structure of other collegiate sports, notably men's soccer. Virginia (4-1-1) will travel to Chestnut Hill, Mass. Saturday for the first time in the program's history to take on Boston College (4-1-1).
"BC has a solid program," Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. "It's going to be a tough game."
The recent conference expansion bumped up the number of ACC men's soccer programs from seven to nine. Florida State, Georgia Tech and Miami lack men's soccer teams. Even before Virginia Tech joined the ACC in 2004, the Cavaliers played the Hokies on a yearly basis. Since the two squads first met in 1960, Virginia has accumulated a 31-3-0 record against Tech and has outscored the Hokies 121-26.
Boston College is a much lesser-known entity for Virginia. The teams have met only once before, with the Cavaliers defeating the Eagles 3-2 in a 1995 contest in Charlottesville. Virginia players, especially those who have been around for several years, are excited about the new opportunity to travel to Massachusetts.
"It's going to be interesting," senior midfielder Joe Vide said. "I'm looking forward to it."
The expansion has caused a change to be made in the structure of the 2005 ACC Men's Soccer Tournament scheduled for Nov. 8-13 in Cary, N.C. There will be a play-in game on the first day of the tournament between the 8th and 9th seeded teams for the right to advance to a quarterfinal round game against the No. 1 seed the following day.
Boston College cruised to a 5-0 victory Wednesday night over St. Peter's College. In their first ACC match last Friday, the Eagles tied Virginia Tech 1-1 in a game played in Blacksburg.
The Eagles' leading scorer is sophomore forward Sherron Manswell, who has notched seven goals on the young season. The Trinidad native is tied with Maryland's Jason Garey for the ACC lead in total goals scored. Following a season-opening road loss to Farleigh Dickinson, the Eagles have reeled off a five-game victory streak, including four wins and the tie with the Virginia Tech Hokies.
The Cavaliers will seek to eliminate the painful memories of Wednesday's ugly 3-0 loss at Old Dominion. Tomorrow night's game will be Virginia's first conference road game.
"A lot of things went wrong in that game," junior forward Adam Cristman said of Wednesday's loss. "It was just one of those days. You can't have the good ones without the bad ones. We should bounce back"
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