The Virginia and Bucknell men's soccer teams had never played each other in the history of their programs.
After last night, the Bison will not be asking for a rematch any time soon.
With former U.S. World Cup coach and Cavalier legend Bruce Arena in attendance, Virginia turned back the clock, doing their best impression of Arena's championship teams by taking down Bucknell, 4-0, in front of 2,083 at Klöckner Stadium.
Riding high off an upset run in the Patriot League Tournament as a No. 4 seed and their first NCAA victory in 32 years, the Bison implemented a very conservative game plan by putting everyone back to prevent a quick goal.
The strategy worked only briefly as Virginia found seams in the wall of defenders.
Senior Adam Cristman got the offense flowing when he received a feed from junior Nico Colaluca for a 20-yard shot that just snuck into the right post in the 27th minute.
Cristman returned the favor just 73 seconds later when he found Colaluca eight yards out for his seventh goal of the year.
"Just from a standpoint of goal production, it's a different dynamic for us," Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. "It puts less pressure on our forwards and makes us more multidimensional."
The two-goal spread forced Bucknell out of their game plan and soon the rout was on. Senior midfielder Ian Holder was the next to join in the goal-scoring bonanza when his header off freshman midfielder Jonathan Villanueva flew past Bucknell goalie Joey Kuterbach with less than two minutes left in the first half.
The goal made up for a near miss minutes earlier from outside the box that hit hard off the right post.
Villanueva would cap the offensive fireworks early in the second half when he and sophomore Yannick Reyering executed a give-and-go from seven yards out to give Virginia its first four-goal game in its last 18 matches.
The effort offensively was only matched by its defensive domination. For the match, Virginia out-shot Bucknell 28-3. There was a 35-minute stretch where the Bison had zero shots on goal.
Senior defender Lee Sandwina made his first start in over a year because of the red card freshman defender Bakare Soumare received in the ACC semifinals. His effort not only drew a rave review from the fans but the coach as well.
"I want to tip my hat to Sandwina -- he stepped in and for me was player of the match," Gelnovatch said. "It was a difficult situation and he did very well."
The night was particularly noteworthy for senior goalie Ryan Burke, whose shutout gives him sole possession of the Virginia career shutout record with 28. Burke reached the mark without recording a single save against the Bison.
"This team -- and Burke is the captain -- really wants to win," Gelnovatch said. "I think he would tell you he'd rather win a national championship than win some kind of award for career shutouts."
Next up for Virginia will be a match Saturday against the California Golden Bears, who dispelled New Mexico 3-1 yesterday afternoon.
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