Hopes were high for both the Virginia and Maryland men's soccer teams as they entered Klockner Stadium for their regular season finale Friday night. For the No. 10 Cavs, the game was their chance to secure a top seeding in the upcoming ACC Tournament while the Terps needed a win to end their season on a positive note.
After a scoreless, turbulent first half in which neither team dominated ball possession, the Cavaliers (13-4-1, 5-1 ACC) grabbed a 2-0 win and the tourney's No. 2 seed. Maryland (10-8, 1-5), on the other hand, finished a disappointing season with a loss and will enter this week's conference tournament as the sixth seed.
"We were pretty confident," said Cav forward Alecko Eskandarian, who had two assists to move just short of the Virginia freshman records for goals and points. "In the first half, we controlled a lot of the play. We had a couple of chances that we could have scored on. We had a couple more in the second half and we knew we would eventually put one away to secure the game."
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Virginia came through in the second half and finished the game with a 2-0 victory. The first goal was put away by sophomore forward Ryan Gibbs in the 63rd minute. Gibbs poked the ball into the net with a little help from Eskandarian and junior midfielder Steve Totten.
Following this goal, the Cavalier focus turned to defending their lead.
"When you're not playing so well, just make sure to keep the other team off the board," Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said.
The Cavs broadened their lead in the 76th minute. Eskandarian gained possession of the ball and passed downfield to junior forward Sheldon Barnes, who had entered the game less than five minutes earlier. Barnes sprinted past two Maryland defenders and beat Terp keeper Christian Lewis one-on-one to score the final goal of the game.
"We had a one goal lead and I figured we needed at least a little more of a cushion when I came into the game," Barnes said.
By winning this game, the Cavaliers put themselves in a three-way tie for first in the ACC with North Carolina and Duke, who are also 5-1 in-conference. The Cavaliers, who earned the second seed based on the goal differential tiebreaker, will face seventh-seeded N.C. State in the first round of the ACC Tournament Thursday at 5:30 p.m. The tournament will bring in many talented athletes and the team looks forward to the heightened level of play.
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"I know it's a great tournament," Eskandarian said. "I am most looking forward to enjoying good soccer and seeing what the other teams have got."
The nearing tournament is not all that's on Eskandarian's mind these days. Coming into the game, he was one goal and four points shy of Gelnovatch's 1983 rookie records for goals and total points. Eskandarian's two assists Friday left him one goal short of tying both records. After the game, he insisted that the record was one of the last things on his mind.
"As long as we've got wins like this, it doesn't really matter," Eskandarian said. "As a forward, scoring goals is part of my job. It's not to break a record, it's to help my team out"
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