The Virginia men's soccer team will face off against Duke tomorrow at 7 p.m. The Blue Devils are the third ranked team in the Atlantic Coast Conference, trailing behind the No. 1 Cavaliers. In the middle is Wake Forest, the team whose defeat in a game last September pushed Virginia up from a No. 22 ranking to No. 12.
Now, against Duke, only three games away from the beginning of the ACC playoffs, the Cavaliers are handed the opportunity to solidify their number one ACC ranking -- or, alternatively, to lose it. So one has to wonder, is Virginia coach George Gelnovatch feeling any pressure?
"We're just going to focus on that game and not worry about the implication of what that win means," Gelnovatch said.
Still, playing the third-ranked ACC team, 13th in the nation -- one with a record that only differs from the Cavaliers by one loss in the ACC -- one would think that would be a pretty big deal.
"Duke's a very good team as their record indicates," Gelnovatch said. "I'm not going to go down the road of what it could mean if we beat them. ... All the teams have half their games to play. We're just concentrating on playing a very good team."
Clearly Gelnovatch isn't very worried by this game, but he's a coach, he's used to high-pressure situations, and he knows how to handle them. What about the team, though? Is the prospect of this game making them a little apprehensive, a little nervous, maybe even a little scared?
"We're treating this game as our regular season national championship," senior defender Matt Oliver said. "It's going to be a big, big game for us, and we're all juiced up for it. We're going to come out flying."
The thing is, this Cavalier team has earned the right to be confident about their playing. Their place at the top of the ACC isn't just a matter of a lucky game against Wake Forest. It's the result of consistent good strategy, playing and teamwork. Virginia is 12-2 on the year, and they've won their last seven games. In all the games they've won this season, they have never let their opponent score more than one goal. In all the games they've lost, it's never been by a margin greater than one. This is a team that in its entire season has had half of its wins end as shutouts.
The Cavaliers have consistently played strongly, and right now, that strength is reflected in their rankings. Gelnovatch is right -- every team still has a few games to go. This game, after all, is still only one in 18 regular season games, regardless of its proximity to the ACC finals.
"We're really happy to be at home," Gelnovatch said. "I'll try not to get worked up about what our records going to be in the conference."
Regardless of the outcome of their game against the Blue Devils, or any other school Virginia plays between now and the ACC finals, the Cavaliers are going to remain an incredibly strong and talented team, one that wouldn't let one loss, or for that matter one high-pressure game, stand in their way.
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