After wrapping up the ACC men's soccer title, the nation's second-ranked Virginia will look to continue its 12-game winning streak against UNC-Greensboro at Klockner Stadium tonight.
The Cavaliers (13-0-1) have allowed only one goal in their last 10 games and are coming off a 2-0 victory over East Carolina on Wednesday.
"I think we should have won by more than two goals, and had we scored that second one earlier, we would have liked to have gotten more players in earlier," Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. "I think we were in control of the game pretty much the whole time."
Virginia will take on a UNC-Greensboro team (11-5) that has won six straight matches, including victories over Duke and N.C. State in the Big Four Tournament this weekend. The Spartans rallied from a 1-0 deficit and scored three straight goals to beat N.C. State, 3-2, on Sunday. This followed a 2-1 overtime victory over Duke on Friday, the first time UNC-Greensboro has beaten Duke in 11 tries.
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"UNC-Greensboro is a good team," Virginia sophomore forward Alecko Eskandarian said. "I think they've beaten some quality opponents, they're going to come out and definitely look to beat us, everyone that comes here, we have an X on our backs, they're going to beat us. We're going to come out and hopefully get another win."
The recent return of Eskandarian, the Cavaliers' leading scorer, to the lineup has proved a huge offensive boost to Virginia. Although he still nurses a groin injury, Eskandarian has scored in each of the Cavaliers' last three games.
"It feels good to be back, [as there is] not a whole lot to do on the bench," Eskandarian said. "I'm still about 85 to 90 percent. It gets frustrating not being able to do things that I did previously."
The Spartans will try to do what nine of the Cavaliers' last 10 opponents have failed to do: Score a goal. Senior forward Alejandro Moreno and freshman midfielder James Goodman lead UNC-Greensboro offensively with nine goals apiece on the year.
Virginia will try to regain its focus after an effort against East Carolina that Eskandarian was not pleased with.
"I don't think we showed too much character out there tonight," he said. "We won the game but I know we didn't play up to our capabilities at all. We did what we had to do, put two goals away."
Gelnovatch echoed the sophomore's sentiments, knowing that the team has not been fully playing up to its potential.
"The past three games we've created a lot of chances," he said. "We just haven't been scoring as many goals as we should be, but the nice part is that we are winning. We're keeping other teams off the board and we're keeping control of the game."
The Cavaliers hope that their troubles finishing will disappear against UNC-Greensboro tonight while continuing their winning ways.
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