Coming off a 2-1 neutral site victory against University of Alabama-Birmingham, the No. 15 Virginia men’s soccer team will host in-state rival Virginia Tech in its ACC opener Friday night.
The Cavaliers (2-1-0) dropped 12 spots in the NCAA rankings after a 1-0, double-overtime loss in the first of two games of the Hurricane Classic against host Tulsa Friday. The team recovered from the setback, the first out-of-conference loss since last season’s opener, with the 2-1 come-from-behind victory against the then-No. 18 Blazers two days later.
“We’re feeling pretty good,” junior midfielder Scott Thomsen said. “The first game didn’t go as we planned, but we fought really hard.”
Virginia Tech (2-2-0) comes to Charlottesville after a 4-1 win against Longwood, snapping a two game losing streak for the Hokies. Virginia Tech opened the year with a 1-0 overtime triumph on the road against SIU-Edwardsville, the goal coming from junior defender Brad Vorv 97 minutes in. But the Hokies were only able to muster one goal in the next two games while allowing six — first in a 3-1 loss against St. Louis, then in a 3-0 defeat against West Virginia.
Virginia Tech has surprised in recent years at the start of conference play, going 3-1-1 in ACC openers in the last five seasons, the sole loss coming in 2012 against then-No. 1 North Carolina.
Virginia will look to avoid the upset, but a number of early-season injuries — including junior forward Darius Madison and senior midfielder Eric Bird, who injured his back against Tulsa — do not bode well for the Cavaliers.
“I think [Madison’s] probably not 100 percent,” coach George Gelnovatch said. “If he can put in a good week of training, we’ll consider him for Friday for the ACC opener.”
With multiple major contributors missing, the younger players on the team have had to step up — and they have certainly impressed so far.
“I have to say, they’ve done really, really well,” Gelnovatch said. “I think we’re playing with five redshirt freshmen in our starting lineup, so we’re pretty young and did very, very well.”
The Cavaliers know rankings mean nothing come game time — especially when they’re playing Virginia Tech. The last four matches between the two teams were all decided by one goal or less — two ties and two one-point wins for Virginia. Though the Cavaliers have not lost to the Hokies since 2005, they know not to take this game lightly.
“I think the last three times we’ve played them it went to overtime, regardless of their record,” Gelnovatch said. “The good news is, we’re at home — that always helps. We just have to be ready for it.”
Everyone on the team has echoed this attitude and the group prepares for a hard-fought battle Friday night.
“We know it’s a rivalry game,” Thomsen said. “No matter who is on the stat sheet, no matter who is on the team sheet, we know it’s going to be a tough game.”
The Cavaliers have used the unusual 3-5-2 formation to success this season — three defenders, five midfielders and two attackers. Still, Gelnovatch is not completely sold on the progress.
“As we play, I’ll keep an eye on … the formation,” Gelnovatch said. “The team has done well in the formation, in particular those three guys [senior defender Kyler Sullivan and redshirt freshman defenders Sheldon Sullivan and Wesley Suggs] in the back. But it’s still new and we haven’t played a game in the conference.”
Who will consistently start in goal — freshman Jeff Caldwell or senior Calle Brown — appears to still be up in the air. Though in a losing effort, Brown notched a career-high nine saves against Tulsa Saturday and has earned the start for Friday’s tilt.
“As it stands now, if Calle [Brown] is healthy, he’ll start that game,” Gelnovatch said. “He had a very good weekend.”
During halftime, Virginia will honor the 1989 national championship team — the first title-winning squad in program history. Gelnovatch, who played for the Cavaliers from 1983-86, was an assistant on the 1989 coaching staff.
“Having been a part of it — coaching staff and a lot of those guys, including coach [Bruce] Arena, being back in town — that will make it a special weekend,” Gelnovatch said. “I’ll see guys that I haven’t seen in a long time that I played with as well.”
The history of the Virginia men’s soccer team has not been lost on its current players.
“With the ’89 team coming in, it’s really something special,” Thomsen said. “They set the standard for us, so we’re trying to add on to that and add some more history ourselves.”
The opening kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. Friday at Klöckner Stadium.
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