Coming off of Tuesday night's shutout victory that included a hat trick by forward Yannick Reyering, the Virginia men's soccer team faces ACC foe Duke tonight at Klöckner Stadium.
Having lost to Boston College a week ago, Tuesday night's success against Liberty has put the Cavaliers (9-3-2, 1-2-2 ACC) back on track to secure their next ACC victory.
Boston College, boasting a 5-0 conference record and 15 points, and Wake Forest, 4-1 overall with 13 points, currently lead the ACC. Rounding out the top three is Virginia Tech with 10 points.
For the remaining six teams, however, just four points separate fourth place from ninth.
"Everybody is fighting for points in the conference," Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. "Obviously Wake and B.C. are at the top, but from three down to nine, we are fighting for points."
Indeed, this weekend's matches will be important in determining next week's standings. With the bottom six neck and neck, earning three points this weekend while simultaneously denying Duke any would allow sixth-place Virginia to overtake the Blue Devils, currently in fourth.
"We need to win, it's a big game," junior defender Matt Poole said. "We just need this win."
The Blue Devils head into tonight's contest 7-5-1 overall and 2-3-1 in the conference. For the first time since 2003, they have gone winless in four straight games. Three of the four opponents the Blue Devils have faced, however, rank among the top 15 nationally: No. 1 Wake Forest, No. 4 Virginia Tech and No. 12 Boston College. After tonight's match against No. 10 Virginia, the Blue Devils will have faced a top-10 opponent in three of their last five games.
"They lost three straight," Gelnovatch said. "They are going to come in here hungry."
Since the Boston College defeat, Virginia has rearranged its midfield. Senior Jeremy Barlow went down during last weekend's match and the team has compensated by switching from a 4-3-2 formation to a 4-4-1. The Cavaliers hope an extra body in the midfield can help them control the pace of the game.
Gelnovatch said while Barlow suffered from a bruised knee, "we are hoping to have him back Friday."
The formation change certainly helped Virginia dominate Liberty. Reyering's hat trick did not hurt either and, having lifted Virginia Tuesday, Gelnovatch hopes that his leading scorer, the top scorer in the ACC, has a repeat performance tonight.
"If [Reyering] can score three Friday night, then I will be amazed," Gelnovatch said. "When we get the ball in the box either by crosses or combination play and Yannick is in the box, that's when he gets his chances. And against B.C. we didn't get enough of them."
Following Virginia's loss at home, Gelnovatch spoke candidly about his team's lack of focus and determination. Tuesday night, however, he said he had seen marked improvement in the Cavaliers' mental readiness before and during the Liberty game.
"Saturday we lacked in intensity," senior Dane Murphy said. "Duke is a good team with a lot of good individual players. We are going to come out with the same mentality we did [Tuesday] -- stick together, play defense, keep compact, keep the ball on the ground, forget about rankings and just do what we have to do to win -- keep them off the scoreboard"
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