Despite the absence of leading scorer Alecko Eskandarian from the lineup Saturday night, the Virginia men's soccer team showed no signs of distress as it soundly defeated ACC rival North Carolina, 2-0, at Klockner Stadium. With the win, the No. 2 Cavaliers avenged last year's 1-0 overtime loss to the Tar Heels in the ACC championship game and improved to 5-0-1, 2-0 in the ACC.
Virginia forward Ryan Gibbs scored two goals on quick restarts. The continually improving Cavalier defense, led by Marshall Leonard, stifled the No. 13 Tar Heels (4-2, 0-1) and allowed goalkeeper David Comfort to record his second consecutive ACC shutout.
Taking the field before a season-high crowd of 3,193, Virginia played well from the opening kickoff. Led in the midfield by Kyle Martino's ball control and Steve Totten's gritty hustle, the Cavaliers left no doubt about which team was in control.
"We're getting back to normal," Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. "The team played well. I think the crowd helped, too - it's a great atmosphere, and the guys were pumped up to play."
Despite dictating play throughout the opening period, the Cavaliers remained level with North Carolina until the 44th minute. After a Tar Heel foul at mid-field, Virginia's Totten quickly pushed the ball down the left touchline to a wide-open Jacob LeBlanc. He crossed the ball to Gibbs, who was backpedaling at the top of the box. Gibbs received the ball and settled it before burying it past helpless Tar Heel goalkeeper Michael Ueltschey.
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"It was a foul that could have gone either way," North Carolina coach Elmar Bolowich said. "Our players were still in an offensive posture, the referee pointed, and Virginia simply executed fast. We were just too naive. We were off-balance defensively, and they took advantage of that."
"We're really confident right now that when we go on the field we're going to win," Totten said. "When we get that first goal it is almost like we all know that we're going to win."
Coming out after the break, the Cavalier defense was required to protect its lead from a Tar Heel offensive that was modified at half time. Forgoing the long balls that had proved ineffective in the first half, the Tar Heels instead focused on short passes to build up an attack. The result for the visitors remained the same, however, as the Virginia defense remained strong and Comfort provided three quality saves.
The Cavaliers posted their second goal in the 79th minute, immediately after an endline confrontation that saw Comfort cautioned by the referee. Comfort's clearance was headed on by Kenny Arena at mid-field, with Martino then touching the ball through to Gibbs. Drawing Ueltschey out from his line, Gibbs sent another left-footed rocket into the back of the net.
"Gibbs is a lot faster than I am, so I let him do the running," Martino said. "He got enough distance between himself and the back defenders to take a shot with his left foot and ripped it past the keeper."
Following the game, the coaches from both teams said they were satisfied with their teams' efforts.
"Overall, I was very pleased with how we played today," Bolowich said. "We obviously wanted to come up here and take something, but Virginia was just too clever today."
"Any ACC win feels pretty good," Gelnovatch said. "Any win in general feels good. To be six games into the season and not to have lost, I think that you would say that you'd feel pretty good. But tomorrow, we'll come up with something that we need to be better at."
Gelnovatch also said that Eskandarian did not play Saturday as a precautionary measure after he injured his groin last week, but he will be back in the lineup Wednesday when the Cavaliers host William & Mary.
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