This weekend the Virginia men's soccer team will face a challenge it hasn't faced in two weeks -- leaving the 2,000 fans of Klöckner Stadium to travel to North Carolina for this season's second away game. Losing the home field advantage to go up against UNC's die-hard fan support, the Cavaliers will need to play their best if they wish to come home with a win.
Though the Tar Heels were the preseason favorite to win the ACC, they are already 0-2 in the conference. Virginia comes in as the top seed in the nation, a position it hasn't held since the 2002 season. In 2002, Virginia was eventually knocked out of their number one spot by Penn State.
Virginia currently has a nine-game winning streak going. However, eight of these nine wins were determined by a point or less. Their most recent match against WVU was the third consecutive game that Virginia has carried into overtime.
"[Overtime] is one of the things the guys are extremely good at," Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. "We've been here so many times, they have a sense of getting their act together, regrouping. It's also an opportunity for me to make adjustments ... getting the win."
The majority of North Carolina's team is returning and experienced. Despite Virginia's success thus far in overtime, the team cannot continue to rely on overtime play if they hope to beat the Tar Heels. If the Cavaliers expect to remain on top, they have to pick up a lead earlier in the game. The Tar Heels will be hunting for an ACC win, so Virginia will need to seek the wins as well -- outside of their overtime cycle.
"They're a very good team," Gelnovatch said. "They've returned just about everybody from last year. It's a Friday night game at their place, they're 0-2 in the conference and they're going to be looking for a win in the ACC for sure."
To this effect, one strength Virginia will have in North Carolina is Nico Colaluca. Colaluca's goal at the 92:32 mark against West Virginia lifted the No. 1 Cavaliers to a 2-1 victory.
"I think he's turned the corner in a lot of respects," Gelnovatch said of Colaluca. "One thing we wanted to get more out of him was point production. [Since the last game], obviously we're happy with that."
Colaluca may be a key to Virginia's offense against Carolina, but regardless of who puts it in the back of the net, the Cavaliers will need to be playing at full strength if they hope to go into the Tar Heels domain and come back home with a win.
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