Twice this season, the Virginia men's soccer team has responded to adversity and won games following heartbreaking losses. A cornerstone of the No. 22 ranked Cavaliers' (6-2, 1-1 ACC) success has been its deep and specialized pool of talent at the midfield position.
"They all have a little something different," coach George Gelnovatch said of his diverse midfield options. "Mike Littlefield's very good in the air. Zane Hill is very good at tackling and covering a lot of ground. Will Hall is better at distributing the ball, and Sean Hinkle does a little bit of everything."
Freshmen midfielders Nico Colaluca and Jeremy Barlow have also played significant roles for the Cavaliers in the past several games.
"I think they bring a lot of energy for young guys," sophomore midfielder Will Hall said. "They run at people, they're exciting to watch and the crowd enjoys it. They're pretty dangerous running at people."
Hall was named to the ACC All-Freshman team for his play during the 2003 campaign. He has scored one goal so far this year.
Gelnovatch has been trying to mesh his veteran and youthful talents into a winning combination.
"It's still evolving," Gelnovatch said. "We're still working on the right combinations. The nice thing is that we're winning along the way."
Littlefield transferred to Virginia from Coastal Carolina following his sophomore year and made a positive impact. This year, he is second on the team with 14 shots.
Hill, a senior midfielder/defender has also been a major contributor this year with one goal and one assist. Hinkle and Chris Tierney are two other Cavalier midfielders who have played solidly this season.
With contributions coming from deep in Virginia's stock of reserves, there has been intense competition at the midfielder position.
"We are starting to get better at it," Hall said of the substitute rotation process. "We can bring six or seven guys off the bench and into the game. [The situation] brings kind of a fight into practice, because people are fighting for spots. There are one, two, three guys who can take your spot. Obviously, it has helped us."
Virginia's plethora of talent at the midfielder position is especially useful in Gelnovatch's system. The Virginia coach keeps his midfielders active during the game.
"Our central midfielders are guys that need to be really busy ... defending, chasing, tackling and connecting," Gelnovatch said. "Those central midfielders -- we will ask them to get dangerous offensively. We're a team that attacks wide so their role is more a workman than anything else."
Virginia will try to build on the momentum from its win over University of Maryland, Baltimore County against N.C. State (4-3-1, 0-1-1 ACC) tomorrow night at home. Consistent high-quality play from Virginia's midfielders should prove to be a major factor in Virginia's success tomorrow night and throughout the rest of the season.
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