WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.-In a thrilling overtime finish yesterday, the Virginia men's soccer team lost to top-seeded North Carolina, 1-0, in a hard-fought ACC Championship final at Wake Forest's Spry Stadium.
A captivating goal by North Carolina's Caleb Norkus, the tournament MVP, ended the contest just 13 seconds into the extra period.
In Friday's semifinal match, second-seeded Virginia (15-5-1) soundly defeated Duke, the defending conference champs, 3-0 to advance. A pair of goals by sophomore Ryan Gibbs led the way over the third-seeded Blue Devils (14-5).
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The Tar Heels (19-2), ranked No. 2 in the nation, ended the sudden-death overtime period almost before it began with a shocking and bizarre goal. Off the kickoff, Carolina's Chris Leitch sent a long ball to 6-foot-3 midfielder Michael Bucy, who headed the ball to Norkus. Norkus headed the ball back to Bucy, who responded by sending a third-consecutive header to Norkus's feet inside the Virginia penalty box. Norkus finally ended the strange sequence by blasting a shot past Cavalier sophomore keeper David Comfort to seal the match.
The Tar Heels and the Cavs, ranked No. 9 in the nation, played evenly for the first 90 minutes. In the 17th minute, Logan Pause created Carolina first opportunity. He beat Comfort and sent a shot that seemed destined to find the back of the net. But Virginia senior back Chad Prince preserved the tie by catching up to the ball and clearing it off the goal line in dramatic fashion.
Virginia almost took the lead seven minutes later when freshman forward Alecko Eskandarian stole the ball from Carolina's defense. With only Tar Heel keeper Michael Ueltschey between him and the net, Eskandarian attempted to chip the ball over Ueltschey, but the keeper caught it with ease.
"I saw the goalie was out about 18-20 yards," Eskandarian said. "So I put my head down to chip it and I didn't hit it right and it just went right at him."
In the second half, Comfort starred by exhibiting excellent work in goal. Ten minutes after the break, Comfort dived to barely knock away a dangerous header from Bucy. Only three minutes later, Carolina's Noz Yamauchi sent a shot that deflected off a defender, but Yamauchi regained possession and launched a rocket that was just touched out by another amazing save by Comfort. Altogether, Comfort had six saves on the day.
Carolina out-shot the Cavs 17-15, though the teams tied with eight shots on goal apiece. In the end, Virginia ended up with a second straight overtime loss in ACC tournament finals. This year's loss mirrored the tragic triple-overtime defeat to Duke last year.
"This scene, this time last year, I feel the exact same way," said Virginia coach George Gelnovatch. "I don't know how to explain it, other than it's pretty disappointing, and I know our guys are pretty disappointed as well."
In the semifinal match, Virginia defeated Duke, a team that had beaten them in four consecutive games. Sophomore back Jonathan Cole opened up the scoring by heading in a cross from Eskandarian with 13 minutes to go in the first half.
Gibbs took over in the second. First, he took the ball from the Duke defense and scored an unassisted goal with 11 minutes to go. Gibbs sealed the match when he collected a through ball from junior forward Sheldon Barnes and sent the shot into the right side of the Blue Devil net.
Gibbs, Cole and sophomore midfielder Kyle Martino earned all-tournament honors.
Virginia must now prepare for next weekend's NCAA tournament. The brackets will be announced today. Last year, the Cavs advanced to the quarterfinals before being ousted by UCLA, 2-0.
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