Almost a year ago to the day then-No. 20 Virginia walked off the field at Klöckner Stadium victorious against then-No. 5 Maryland.
What a difference a year makes, as the No. 2 Terrapins (15-1, 5-1 ACC) emerged a 1-0 victor over the unranked Cavaliers (8-8, 3-3) Friday night in College Park, Md.
"They're experienced and they know that winning this game wins them the regular season ACC title," Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. "We beat them at our place last year so we knew this was coming."
Maryland came out fired up from the opening whistle, applying pressure to anyone on the Virginia side that possessed the ball. The Cavaliers had trouble stringing together passes all over the field, with Maryland never letting up and constantly countering.
"We couldn't connect on passes throughout most of the game because their pressure was so good," Gelnovatch said. "They're fast, they're athletic, and they're in tune with each other."
Junior defender Jeff Tuman agreed that Maryland's pressure disrupted the Cavalier's offense the entire 90 minutes.
"They pressured us really well," Tuman said. "Some of it's atmosphere, some of it's our concentration, but I attribute most of it to them having a really good team."
The only goal of the decisive conference match came in the 24th minute. Maryland forward A.J. Herrera gathered the ball 40 yards from goal on the right side. With a Virginia player coming towards him at full speed, Herrera served a ball into the Cavalier's 18-yard box. Virginia defender Paul Johnson barely missed getting his head on the ball to clear it out of danger, and instead the ball took one bounce on the slick surface, where Maryland forward Jason Garey streaked across the six-yard box and with a glancing header gave Maryland the game-winning goal.
Virginia freshman keeper Ryan Burke was shifting his weight to the right side just as Garey came through and deflected the ball back toward the near post, leaving Burke unable to get to the ball in time. The goalkeeper could do nothing but watch helplessly as the ball came to a rest inside the left goal post.
"Paul let it go and he shouldn't have," Gelnovatch said. "He thought the keeper had called for it and he hadn't."
The importance of Friday night's game was enormous for both sides. With a win, Virginia would have taken the first seed in the upcoming ACC tournament and stay above .500. With the win, the Terrapins claimed the regular season ACC title with the win over Virginia to take the top seed in the conference tourney.
"I told our guys that we had five freshmen on the field tonight and they had four seniors and a bunch of juniors," Gelnovatch said. "Next year, when those seniors are gone and our freshmen are moving up, we're going to be in good shape. I'm disappointed we lost, but I'm proud of our guys and I know the future is bright."
One of those freshmen that made the starting line-up, goalkeeper Ryan Burke, also made a major impact on the team, finishing the game with eight saves and keeping the Cavaliers in the game every second after Maryland scored the game's only goal.
"He had a hell of a game," Tuman said. "He saved our necks on more than one occasion. He kept us in it."
Virginia takes on VCU in its final game before the ACC tournament this Friday. The Cavaliers will have to find a way to win in order to stay above .500 and keep their NCAA tournament hopes alive.
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