Men's Soccer Receives NCAA Tournament Bid
Story Links
Nov. 15, 1999
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – As the 1999 regular season for theUniversity of Virginia men’s soccer team came to a close, the Cavaliersfound themselves flirting with missing the NCAA Division I Men’s SoccerChampionship for the first time since the 1980 season. That year, UVafinished with a record of 8-9-1 overall, 2-3-1 in the conference. Prior toUVa’s last regular season game this season against Ohio State on 11/5/99,Virginia stood 9-7-1, including a last place mark of 1-4-1 in the AtlanticCoast Conference. The Cavaliers knew they would not only have to close outthe regular season with a win over the Buckeyes, but they would also haveto make a serious run in the ACC Tournament to solidify a place in the32-team field of the NCAA Tournament. UVa did just that.
The Virginia Cavaliers gathered an at-large bit Monday evening andwill compete in the 1999 NCAA Division I Soccer Championship. UVa (12-8-1)will host the Princeton Tigers (12-4-0) in the first round of thetournament on Sunday, November 21st at Kl?ckner Stadium. The contest isscheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. The winner of the Virginia vs. Princetongame will meet the winner of the Brown (12-4-0) vs. Rhode Island (17-3-1)contest in the following round.
The Cavaliers run at making the tournament was not an easy strolldown the stretch. Virginia handed Ohio State a 1-0 defeat in its lastregular season contest to improve to 10-7-1 overall, and headed toWinston-Salem, N.C. to compete in the ’99 ACC Men’s Soccer Tournament asthe number seven seed. UVa’s first round quarterfinal opponent was the #2seeded Maryland Terrapins, a team who entered the tournament with a 14-5-0mark on the year. Maryland had defeated Virginia by the score of 1-0earlier in the season on 9/12 in College Park, Md. This time however,Virginia would come out on top, as the Cavaliers recorded a 2-0 shutoutvictory over the Terrapins. UVa would advance to the semifinal round totake on the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
Wake Forest was seeded third in the tournament and entered itscontest with Virginia holding a 12-1-5 mark overall. The Demon Deaconswere 2-1 winners over N.C. State in the quarterfinal round and were playingin the friendly confines of Spry Soccer Stadium, a place Wake Forest hadnot lost in all season. That would all change though, as Virginia jumpedout to an early 2-0 first half lead and cruised to a 2-1 semifinal victoryto advance to the ACC Championship contest. UVa had improved its record to12-7-1 overall with the three consecutive wins.
In the championship game, Virginia would meet its toughestchallenge of the tournament, the undefeated Duke Blue Devils. Duke was14-0-3 on the year and advanced to the tournament finals with a 4-0 victoryover rival North Carolina in the semifinals. After the Cavaliers and BlueDevils traded goals, the two teams battled through two scoreless overtimeperiods before Duke scored the game-winning just midway through the thirdovertime. Although Virginia lost the war with Duke, the Cavaliers won thebattle by climbing into the NCAA Tournament for the 21st time.
The Cavaliers will be making their 54th appearance in a NCAAcontest. Virginia owns a 36-15-2 all-time record in the NCAA Tournament togo along with five national titles. UVa captured the national crown in1989, 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994. After losing to N.C. State 2-1 indouble-overtime in the quarterfinals of the tournament in 1990, Virginiahas gone 26-4-1 since that loss.
This will be the seventh time Virginia and Princeton will meet inmen’s soccer. UVa holds a 5-1-0 (.833) advantage in the series historybetween the two teams. The last time the Cavaliers and Tigers met(10/13/96), UVa came away with a 3-0 victory in Charlottesville.
Here is a look at the first round contests of the tournament:
November 21 at Durham, North Carolina
UMBC (19-0-2) at Duke (15-0-3)
November 19 at Stanford, California
Santa Clara (13-3-2) at Stanford (12-4-2)
November 20 at Dallas, Texas
Creighton (11-4-2) at Southern Methodist (15-3-0)
November 21 at Birmingham, Alabama
Southwest Missouri State (17-0-3) at Alabama-Birmingham (15-5-0)
November 22 at Winston Salem, North Carolina
Virginia Commonwealth (14-6-1) at Wake Forest (12-2-5)
November 21 at Greenville, South Carolina
North Carolina (12-6-1) at Furman (19-1-1)
November 20 at Piscataway, New Jersey
Yale (12-4-1) at Rutgers (12-5-3)
November 21 at Storrs, Connecticut
Hartford (11-7-2) at Connecticut (16-4-0)
November 20 at Saint Louis, Missouri
Illinois-Chicago (17-3-0) at St. Louis (16-3-2)
November 21 at Los Angeles, California
San Diego (14-3-0) at UCLA (16-2-0)
November 21 at Providence, Rhode Island
Rhode Island (17-3-1) at Brown (12-4-0)
November 21 at Charlottesville, Virginia
Princeton (11-4-2) at Virginia (12-8-1)
November 21 at College Park, Maryland
St. John’s (NY) (11-5-3) at Maryland (14-5-0)
November 20 at University Park, Pennsylvania
William & Mary (14-6-3) at Penn State. (17-3-1)
November 21 at Portland, Oregon
Washington (14-4-2) at Portland (12-4-2)
November 21 at Bloomington Indiana
Kentucky (13-6-1) at Indiana (16-3-0)