COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The No. 3 men's soccer team exorcised some demons yesterday. A 3-2 victory over Creighton in the first-place game of the Maryland/Fila Classic in College Park, Md., avenge last season's humiliating 3-0 home loss to the Bluejays in the third round of the NCAA tournament.
"We've been looking forward to playing [Creighton] ever since we lost to them last year," junior midfielder Ryan Gibbs said. "We have a better team than we did last year - we're much more balanced, more mature and our depth is incredible. So we knew we had a better shot to win this game."
"We had a lot of respect for [Creighton] coming into this game," senior midfielder Curtis Bush said. "They came to U.Va. last year and really took us off guard. It was a hard loss for us because we really wanted to win that game. Instead we were knocked out of the tournament. Some of us are still pretty bitter."
"Emotion's good for about 10 minutes, and then that kind of wears down," Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. "What really made the difference is that we played differently against them this year" than in the NCAA tournament.
The Cavaliers (3-0-1) received a huge gift five minutes into the first half of the game when Bluejay midfielder David Wagenfuhr deflected Virginia forward Ryan Gibbs' cross pass, intended for sophomore forward Alecko Eskandarian, past his own goalkeeper into the back of the net.
Foul calls plagued the Cavaliers in the first half. One in particular cost them a goal. With 11 minutes remaining in the half, a foul called on Virginia midfielder Kenny Arena gave Creighton (2-1-1) an indirect kick from just outside the goalie's box. Sophomore midfielder David Wagenfuhr crossed to junior forward Luiz Del Montes, who rocketed a shot into the top right corner of the net from 15 feet out.
"Their strikers gave us a lot of trouble last year," Bush said. "Coming into this game, [the defense] knew we were going to have to step it up a little bit. They're strong and fast up front, so we knew that there was going to be a lot of running involved to keep them contained. Whether ugly or pretty, that was our job."
"At halftime, we talked about being able to keep our posture a little dropped off, but when we do win the ball, to play forward and connect," Gelnovatch said. "That's what we couldn't do in the first half - we'd pick [the ball] off, but we couldn't find anybody in the forward direction, only back or sideways."
The Cavaliers came out firing after halftime. Within the first 10 minutes of the second half, junior midfielder Kyle Martino connected with Gibbs for two consecutive fast break goals, giving the Cavaliers a 3-1 lead.
The Blue Jays capitalized on an opportunity to close the two-goal gap. Virginia goalkeeper David Comfort was called for a foul inside the goalie's box when he tripped junior forward Mike Tranchilla in an effort to save a shot. Tranchilla deposited his penalty kick into the right side of the net when Comfort dove to the left. But that was as close as Creighton would get.
"I was really proud of the guys because they executed the game plan," Gelnovatch said. "We played a little differently that we usually play, and it's great that they were able to stick with the game plan and, because of it, we were able to get the result we wanted"
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