As important as the Cavalier's football game against Maryland will be, the biggest game in Virginia sports this weekend will be right here in Charlottesville. Klöckner Stadium will be rocking Saturday at 5 p.m. when No. 7 Virginia men's soccer (8-2-2, 1-1-2 ACC) hosts the top team in the ACC, No. 9 Boston College (7-3-1, 4-0-0 ACC). The game, originally scheduled for Friday, was postponed due to travel complications.
The Cavaliers are 7-0-1 at home this season (the tie came against a one-loss Virginia Tech squad currently ranked fifth in the nation). Despite Klöckner's distinct home-field advantage, this will be a tough conference game against an opponent that has proven it can win on the road.
"They have won two very big games on the road, which is tough to do in this conference," Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. "Boston College is the leader in the ACC right now."
Boston College's two road conference wins came Sept. 22 against North Carolina and Oct. 5 against Duke, then ranked fourth nationally. Both the Golden Eagles and the Cavaliers are coming off recent tough losses, and both teams will be looking to bounce back Friday night. Providence College (7-5-1) upset Boston College at home Tuesday night while Virginia dropped its first conference game against Clemson last Friday on the road.
"They are a very good team and so we just have to come out stronger," freshman midfielder Jason Kim said.
The Golden Eagles' defense seems to be their strength because they have not given up more than two goals in any game this season, and that has only happened once. Junior goalkeeper Chris Brown has given up eight goals in 11 games and posted a .810 save percentage.
On the other side of the ball, Boston College has scored 22 goals this season, though eight of those came against the University of Maine. The Golden Eagles' offense centers around junior midfielder Alejandro Bedoya, who leads the team in points (19), goals (6), assists (7) and shots on goal (27). A player to watch for will be junior midfielder Reuben Ayara, who only has seven points and one goal but is second in shots (34) and assists (7) and fourth in shots on goal (10).
Virginia beat Florida Atlantic on Tuesday in the first match of its current five-game homestand, which should give the Cavaliers momentum after the disappointing loss against Clemson. In Tuesday night's game sophomore midfielder Jonathan Villanueva scored his first goal of the season, and senior forward Matt Ayotte scored his second and third goals. If these two players can continue to step up, it will take some pressure off of junior forward Yannick Reyering and senior midfielder Chris Tierney.
"Part of it is just getting that [first] goal," Gelnovatch said about Villanueva. "In the game he had a little more of a swagger to him."
Gelnovatch said he believes Villanueva and sophomore forward Matt Mitchell will contribute more down the stretch.
"He has been playing very well for us, playing a bit of a different position," Gelnovatch said about Mitchell. "But I feel like he is going to be a guy who scores goals for us down the road. He just needs to get that one."
Gelnovatch compared Mitchell's situation to that of last season's second-highest goal scorer, Adam Cristman. Cristman scored one goal in the first nine games but finished the season with 10 goals, including seven in the last nine games.
"It happened with Adam Cristman last year," Gelnovatch said. "I kept saying all along that he was going to be a guy who scores goals for us down the stretch, and he did."
A win against Boston College would go far in keeping the Cavaliers rolling through what looks to be a tough final stretch. Between midweek games in two consecutive weeks the Cavaliers host No. 15 Duke next Friday before traveling to College Park to play Maryland Nov. 3. The Cavaliers finish off the season Nov. 9 in Winston-Salem against undefeated No. 1 Wake Forest.
The players, however, are focused on only playing one game at a time. They are concentrated on getting solid contributions from Villanueva, Mitchell and others in order to give the team a boost going into the last leg of ACC play.
"We are definitely going to come out and try to play our best game of the year," Villanueva said. "And get a win for the home crowd"
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