After a disappointing 3-2 loss to Gonzaga Sunday afternoon at Klockner Stadium, the Virginia men's soccer team looks to rebound against Appalachian State this evening.
"We are going to be totally business from here on out," midfielder Ryan Trout said. "We're going to do some damage on Appalachian State."
Focused on improving the errors that led to this weekend's defeat, the Cavaliers (1-1) hope to play up to the caliber that awarded them a No. 6 ranking in the Soccer America preseason poll.
"We know we have a good team, we are very skillful," coach George Gelnovatch said, adding "there are some things we have to get better at."
In this week's game, the Cavaliers will focus on working as a team to keep the ball out of their goal area, as well as on building the confidence of the team's young and inexperienced members.
"We need to work on keeping the ball out of our goal," Gelnovtach said. "That's just not the [job of] the guys in the back--that's the whole team in general."
Virginia's sentiment about tonight's game against the Mountaineers (0-1) remains very positive, since they face an unranked team that has played only one game this season.
"The Wednesday night game against Appalachian State is a game I feel confident in saying we should win," Gelnovatch said.
Though the Cavaliers will have an edge at least on paper against the Mountaineers, the Virginia players will have to overcome some obstacles going into the game.
"How [do] we deal with [Sunday's] loss and a young team; do we get rattled by this?" Gelnovatch said. "These are all things I have to address throughout the year with such a young team [including] keeping their confidence up and getting them to play together."
The Cavaliers also hope to use today's game to prepare them for their match against Maryland at College Park Sunday.
"We have a big ACC game coming up. We have Wednesday's game to get us motivated for the weekend," Trout said. "I don't think you will see us playing out of our game for the rest of this season. The positive thing is [the loss] happened so early, so we can move up from here"
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