After a strong showing against Liberty Wednesday night, the Virginia men's soccer team will travel to Durham tonight to face No. 7 Duke. Duke is coming off a 1-0 loss to a Maryland team that is currently ranked third in the nation. If Virginia hopes to snag a road win, they will need strong play from senior goalie Ryan Burke and sophomore forward Yannick Reyering.
With an important home game against the Terps looming next Wednesday, the Cavaliers will have to focus on playing a Duke team that has struggled at times this year. The Blue Devils have only beaten one ranked team and lost to unranked UNC Wilmington at home. However, last Friday, Duke played Maryland tough, losing 1-0 in a game where the Blue Devils outshot Maryland 8-6 in the second half. A win over Duke would be a confidence boost for Virginia going into the big ACC game against Maryland.
"We're going to Duke, and they're a very good team, and it's going to be a battle," Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said.
The last time that Virginia went on the road, they registered their first and only loss of the season, a 2-1 defeat at the hands of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. The Duke game will be just as difficult, and Duke will certainly be prepared. A coach from Duke was spotted in the stands scouting the Cavaliers during their 1-0 victory over Clemson last Saturday.
"Even though we haven't been there, we've heard that their stadium [Duke's] is one of the rowdiest atmospheres in the ACC, and they're coming off a full week of rest," junior midfielder Chris Tierney said. "They just lost to Maryland, so they'll be coming out real hard, so we definitely have to be ready for them."
Virginia will be leaning heavily on the ability and senior leadership of Burke. Burke's shutout against Liberty was his fifth of the season and 25th of his career, putting him two short of the Virginia career record set by Jeff Causey. Burke will have to direct traffic on the defensive side of the ball to keep the Blue Devils from scoring.
He will especially need to watch out for Duke sophomore forward Mike Grella, who leads Duke with seven goals in 10 games this season. Grella has been set up mainly by the other forward, junior Spencer Wadsworth, who is tied for the team lead with six assists.
On the offensive side of the ball, Virginia will run the offense through Reyering, who leads the Cavaliers with six goals in 12 games so far this season.
"We have two big targets in there in Yannick and [senior] Adam [Cristman], and that's our play," junior midfielder Nico Coluca said. "Get it to their head, they flick it on."
The Virginia offense will be trying to score on Duke junior goalie Justin Papadakis. Papadakis has only been allowing 0.97 goals per game this season. One goal may be enough for the Cavaliers in this game, though -- in their last five games, Duke has only scored three goals, with two coming in the win over unranked Harvard.
Virginia is tied with Maryland atop the ACC, and a win tonight against Duke will help the Cavaliers keep pace with the Terrapins in the standings heading into next week's game.
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