Wahoo Wire

Last year, UVA’s soccer team started the season unsure of how their season would end up. Losing nine players is never easy, especially when three of them played such a vital role in the Cavalier attack. Yannick Reyering had 39 goals and 10 assists in his UVA career at forward, midfielder Jeremy Barlow had 18 assists and 12 goals, and Chris Tierney, another midfielder, had 11 goals 16 assists. With such big cleats to fill, not even the Wahooligans (UVA’s Soccer Support Club) could’ve believed that it would be anything more than a rebuilding year; especially with only two seniors on the team. But the seventh best recruiting class in the country as assessed by College Soccer News played way beyond their years and the rest of the young team stepped up their game, leading the young Cavaliers to the finals of the ACC Tournament as well as a 29^th straight NCAA tournament appearance (the longest active streak in the NCAA).

After only losing two seniors (of those two, only goalkeeper Michael Giallombardo saw significant playing time) this year’s outlook is bright. Loaded with talent both in the starting line-up and on the bench already, the addition of the eighth best recruiting class in the country as assessed by College Soccer News (and rated the best in the ACC by topdrawersoccer.com, better even than defending National Champion Maryland’s class ) just emphasizes this team will be a force to be reckoned with this season. The recruiting class even includes two U-18 US Men’s national team players – forwards Will Bates and Shane Cooke. With the top three scorers all returning, including ACC freshmen of the year and Hermann trophy candidate Tony Tchani and U-20 US Men’s national team player Brian Ownby, the sky is the limit for this deadly attack. Throw in the fact that former High School soccer player of the year Chris Agorsor will be coming back soon and there are very few, if any, front lines as dangerous as Virginia’s.

Though the attack is strong, the preseason was not as strong as the team had hoped. Even the homefield advantage of Klockner Stadium and its top three national average in attendance couldn’t help the Cavaliers, as they lost a heartbreaking opener in the 92^nd minute to George Mason after outshooting them 19-5. In the second game, at Old Dominion, the Cavaliers fell apart in the end, and they lost 3-1, the one bright spot being a goal from first year forward Akheel Rodney. In the third and final preseason game, the team seemingly lacked motivation and fell 2-0 to West Virginia.

While the preseason doesn’t reflect how the season will go, it was disconcerting that only one goal was scored by such a potent offense. With this in mind, when the season started and the first exhibition game jitters were over with, the firepower was out in full force as UVA crushed Portland 3-0 to open the Portland Nike Invitational; Tchani scored two goals and first year forward Will Bates added the third. Two days later, UVA again found the net twice from the unlikely pair of defender Greg Monaco and workhorse midfielder Neil Barlow, as they won an overtime thriller 2-1 over Washington in the same tournament. Now the Cavaliers, undefeated and ranked 16^th in the nation, start their ACC schedule against 19^th ranked Duke. It will be a tough game, but with the homefield advantage as well as a pair of crucial away wins, look for UVA to pull out a close one.

I predict the UVA Men’s Soccer team in the regular season will win 11 games, lose 3, and tie 3, reach the ACC tournament semi-finals, and get to the 3^rd round of the NCAA tournament, keeping alive the streak of consecutive NCAA appearances. This could be a big year for the soccer team, so go out and show your support starting with this Friday, September 10^th at 8pm at Klockner Stadium.