The No. 3 Virginia men's soccer team enters this weekend's Maryland/FILA Classic aspiring to return home with two wins. Virginia fortunately will not have to face host No. 5 Maryland. Instead, Virginia (1-0-1) will feast on American (2-0) tonight and No. 11 Creighton (1-0-1) on Sunday.
Fresh off a thrilling, come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Liberty in front of an energetic Klockner Stadium crowd on Aug. 31, the Cavaliers settled for a mildly disappointing 2-2 tie against No. 7 UCLA on Sunday.
Head coach George Gelnovatch expressed some disappointment in not pulling through with a win against UCLA. But he did remain optimistic about Virginia's play.
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"If we had to play that game again, I'd feel pretty good about it," Gelnovatch said. "A win would have been nice, certainly, but we're pretty pleased even though we gave up two goals and had a ton of chances to win that game in regulation."
The Cavaliers, though, certainly are not going to dwell on the past. Virginia's first opponent, American, enters this weekend's tournament with a championship in last week's D.C. College Cup. They boast a 2-0 record after defeating Georgetown and George Mason by the same count of 1-0.
Creighton, however, may prove to be a tougher test for Virginia. The undefeated Bluejays competed at the Diadora Challenge last weekend and tied Memphis, 0-0, and beat Oregon State, 4-2.
Virginia is aware of the strong Creighton team but knows that it cannot overlook the Eagles.
"American we played last year," Virginia sophomore Alecko Eskandarian said. "They were a tough game. They'll put up a fight, but how you play to your strengths is what wins big games, and I think our strengths are better than theirs. The game against Liberty was supposed to be easy, but that turned out to be a tough game."
According to Eskandarian, the Cavaliers were not placing any special emphasis on preparations for American.
"We're just working on our own game," Eskandarian said. "Always I'm working on my strengths, and we are going to adapt a little bit. I'm sure if you ask them, they're talking about us and that we can do this and this. We do get scouting reports and obviously we know something about them. It's not like we're not that cocky that we feel we can just step onto the field and win."
The Virginia men's soccer team knows that despite its lofty No. 3 ranking, there is always room for improvement.
"I think that we give up too many goals," Gelnovatch said. "With our possession and pressure, we're a little susceptible to counters. As a coach, you have to look at the number of chances we create. Scoring goals is nice, but creating chances has to come first."
Gelnovatch hopes that this weekend's tournament will help gauge Virginia's progress.
"This weekend will be another test to measure ourselves and see where we are," Gelnovatch said.
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