Monday morning, Virginia men’s soccer coach George Gelnovatch had his No. 12 Cavaliers finish practice with three penalty kick shootouts, requesting that his players approach the trial rounds with in-game intensity. The next day, Virginia’s focused preparation paid tangible dividends, as sophomore midfielder Todd Wharton converted his penalty kick in the 94th minute to propel the No. 12 Cavaliers to a 1-0 overtime victory at No. 9 Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament Quarterfinals.
The sixth-seeded Cavaliers (10-4-4, 4-3-4 ACC) bounced the third-seeded seed Demon Deacons (9-5-5, 6-1-4 ACC) from the conference tournament for the sixth consecutive season and handed the Wake Forest its second conference loss of the year.
Virginia avenged its 3-2 loss at Wake Forest from Sept. 13 during the opening weeks of the regular season. The Cavaliers picked up year-changing momentum in that game, scoring two goals in the last seven minutes before reeling off an 11-match unbeaten streak. Virginia eventually fell to No. 24 North Carolina to end its impressive run, but recovered with a 1-0 win against Boston College in its regular season finale.
Redshirt junior Calle Brown started in goal for the second straight game and recorded three saves. Senior Kevin McBride, juniors Kyler Sullivan and Matt Brown and freshman Patrick Foss played from start to finish in the Cavalier backfield.
Virginia improved to 38-14-9 all-time in the ACC Tournament and bolstered its case for a home game next Thursday in the NCAA Tournament’s opening round. The Cavaliers last won the ACC and NCAA Tournaments in 2009, when the team compiled a 19-3-3 record and won 11 games at Klöckner Stadium.
With the win, the Cavaliers earned a semifinals date with No. 1 and second-seeded Notre Dame (12-1-5, 7-1-3 ACC) Friday at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Germantown, Md. Virginia previously handed the Fighting Irish their lone loss of the season, 2-0, Oct. 26 in Indiana.
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