CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Virginia's season ended Sunday with a 2-1 road loss to the University of North Carolina in the third round of the 2005 NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament. Tar Heel forward Ben Hunter scored two goals within a two-minute span in the second half to eliminate the Cavaliers and propel North Carolina to the NCAA Elite Eight. Virginia finished the season with a 12-5-3 record.
"Obviously, it's upsetting," senior midfielder Joe Vide said. "But, as [Virginia] coach [George] Gelnovatch said in the locker room, 48 teams come into this tournament and only one goes home happy."
Virginia was playing without junior forward Adam Cristman, who suffered a leg injury during warm-ups before Tuesday night's victory over South Florida. Junior Ian Holder started at forward for the Cavaliers in both NCAA Tournament games.
The Tar Heels generally controlled the tempo during the first half, mustering six shots compared to Virginia's three. The Cavaliers were bailed out on numerous occasions by junior goalkeeper Ryan Burke, who notched four first half saves. Burke made seven saves overall in the contest and finished the season with 65 saves and 10 shutouts.
Virginia failed to capitalize on several excellent first-half scoring opportunities. In the 21st minute, Vide had his defender beat in the box but his shot came off of the inside of his foot and sailed well left of the net. With about four minutes left in the half, Holder received the ball in the box off a flick from Yannick Reyering but could not get off a shot before the ball was smothered by North Carolina goalkeeper Justin Hughes. The game was scoreless at halftime.
"We came in with the mindset of, if nothing else, the halftime score being 0-0," junior midfielder Will Hall said. "If we had scored that would have been great, but our goal was to get into the locker room at 0-0."
Both squads came out energized in the early minutes of the second half. Tensions flared just over 10 minutes into the half when Hunter was given a yellow card after committing a hard foul on Hall. Vide came in after the play and shoved Hunter, but the players were separated before the incident could escalate. Moments later, Reyering narrowly missed converting on a header attempt.
"We came out flying in the second half and were probably unlucky not to get a goal in the first 15 minutes or so," Hall said.
With 29:29 remaining, a free kick taken by Hunter deflected off the hand of a Virginia defender near the top of the box. Hunter was given another free kick attempt from several yards closer and converted with a shot that sailed over a wall of Virginia defenders and into the left side of the net.
Hunter tallied his second goal of the game 107 seconds later when he received a long cross pass in the upper right portion of the box from forward Corey Ashe and sent a rocket shot past a diving Burke.
"That one free kick changed the entire game," Gelnovatch said. "We played a bit funny for a few minutes after that, and they scored their second goal."
Reyering scored Virginia's lone goal on a header with 1:20 remaining. The freshman led the Cavaliers this season with 14 goals.
"We went down swinging," Gelnovatch said. "I was proud of that."
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