The Virginia men's soccer team kicks off its regular season Friday at 10 p.m. as it faces the University of Portland in Portland, Ore. The Cavaliers will then square off with the University of Washington at 3 p.m. Saturday in the second leg of the two-game Nike Invitational - a tournament featuring four teams, the other being St. Louis University.\nThe Virginia squad is coming off a dismal preseason that included exhibition losses to George Mason, Old Dominion and West Virginia. The lackluster performances raised doubts about the team from college soccer experts, something reflected in the Cavaliers' recent removal from the NCAA/Adidas Top 25 poll, despite being picked to finish second in the elite ACC standings earlier in the preseason.\nVirginia players and coaches, however, remain confident about the upcoming season and believe the exhibition losses have made them hungrier than ever for a successful year.\n"I think that everybody's on a high alert for there to be a lot of energy and for there to be a lot of focus going into this opening weekend," Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said.\nPortland, picked to finish sixth in the seven-team West Coast Conference, enters its 2009 campaign ready to improve on last season's 8-10-2 record. The Pilots are one of four WCC schools to boast two players on the preseason All-Conference team - senior midfielder Collen Warner and junior goalkeeper Austin Guerrero. Warner, the team's leading scorer, racked up five goals and eight assists last season, while Guerrero led the league in saves for the second consecutive season with 91 stops. In spite of its mediocre overall record last season, Portland found some success at home, posting a 6-3-1 mark on its home pitch.\nMeanwhile, Washington finished fourth in the Pac 10 last season with an overall record of 8-8-2. After losing its two best players to injury in the same game, the team ended with an 0-4-1 record in its final five games. For the first time since 2002, the Huskies do not return a First Team All-Conference player this season, and they return just one second teamer, junior defender Taylor Mueller. Their strength lies in a solid, experienced defense, led by senior goalkeeper and co-captain Rylan Hawkins, who helped the Huskies earn a 1-0 win against Seattle Tuesday in their first game of the season.\nFor now, however, Virginia is not overly concerned with the tendencies of its two weekend opponents, instead placing the bulk of its focus on addressing its own problems.\n"At this point, we haven't really gone over what they have to offer," sophomore midfielder Jimmy Simpson said. "In practices, we've been focusing mainly on the things we need to do to win, but I've heard good things about those teams. Obviously, college soccer is high competition so it should be a good test for us."\nThe Cavaliers are looking to do the opposite of what they did last year, when they won their three preseason exhibitions in convincing fashion but proceeded to lose their first two regular season matches. With players like Simpson, sophomore forward Brian Ownby, sophomore midfielder Tony Tchani and possibly sophomore forward Chris Agorsor set to return to the pitch after missing time, Virginia has an excellent chance to start the regular season on the right foot.\n"It was good to get together as a team and come up with ideas about what we need to do to get better," Simpson said. "This weekend will be a good test for us"
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