After a long offseason, the No. 17 Virginia men’s soccer team is back, with their season set to kick off this Friday night against No. 21 Coastal Carolina.
The Cavaliers wrapped up a three-game preseason last Saturday with a 2-0 win over No. 10 Georgetown. That victory wrapped up a successful exhibition season for Virginia, as they went undefeated, with wins against Longwood and Liberty in addition to their win over the Hoyas.
The Cavaliers hope that a strong preseason performance carries into the regular season, as they look to recapture the glory that defined their 2014 season when they won the National Championship.
With the conclusion of the preseason, head coach George Gelnovatch liked what he had seen from his team throughout the three-game stretch, citing the strides the team had made.
“If you’re winning your games, that’s progress,” Gelnovatch said. “We’re scoring goals and creating chances and not giving up a ton of opportunities, so that’s pretty good progress.”
Gelnovatch liked that the team was getting at opponents and noticed the progress the players were making in relation to this aspect of their game.
“And a certain way of how we want to get at teams and I think, that was, in all three games, we’ve managed to do some of those things,” Gelnovatch said. “And a certain way when the ball turns over, whether it’s pressing a team or whether it’s absorbing a little bit of pressure so we’ve done all of those things, we’ve gotten better at all those things, so yes, we made progress.”
Though there may have been cause for concern in the first half of their match against Georgetown, due to the Hoyas’ fast start and ball-dominating first half, the Cavaliers showcased their resiliency by hanging around and playing tough defense, not allowing Georgetown to score.
“We feel like the tempo and pace and energy at which [Georgetown] played at in the first half was excellent, I mean phenomenal, but I was pretty sure they couldn’t keep it up either, so I think we kind of weathered the storm in the first half a little bit,” Gelnovatch said. “The second half I think we just started to take over a little bit because we weathered the storm.”
After their strong preseason, the team is confident about their chances of having a strong season.
“I think it’s been a really good preseason, so spirits are high,” senior midfielder Paddy Foss said after the win against Georgetown. “Team chemistry has been awesome, and we’re scoring goals, so I think everything is possible.”
There is a positive energy surrounding the team and the Cavaliers hope they can kick off the season the way that they want, with a win against the Chanticleers at Klöckner Stadium.
“Everything is positive going into the opener,” Foss said. “Hopefully we’ll have a big crowd out here at Klöckner, and it’ll be a big night.”
With six days off between their final preseason match and their season opener, the Cavaliers knew that, despite their strong level of play over the past few weeks, they could not stop trying to improve.
Foss mentioned the importance not only of improving aspects of their game, but also starting to prepare for a long season that necessitates readiness and focus week in and week out.
“I think it’s a little bit of both,” Foss said. “We obviously need to focus and lock in and get the little things right going into the season, but I think it’s really about meshing. We got a lot of new guys in the starting lineup; it’s a pretty new team, young team, but it’s all been positive so I think this week especially it’s about gelling as a team and getting that continuity so that when we step on the field Friday night everything is going to be flawless.”
The Cavaliers’ home opener will kick off at 7 p.m. and will be the start of a two-game home stand for the Cavaliers before they head out of Charlottesville for their next two.
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