Men's Soccer Prepares to Host Coca-Cola Classic
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October 7, 1998
THE GAMES:
#4 Virginia (8-0-2) vs American (2-6-1), Klockner Stadium, Charlottesville, Va. Oct. 9, 1998 7:30 p.m.
#4 Virginia (8-0-2) vs Adelphi (2-7-1)Klockner Stadium, Charlottesville, Va. Oct. 11, 1998 2:30 p.m.
THE SERIES WITH THE EAGLES: Virginia leads the American series 6-2, but American won last year’s regular season match 3-1 in the opener for the Cavaliers. In that game, the Hoos were without the services of four players who were representing the US at the World University Games. The two met again in the NCAA tournament and the Cavaliers exacted revenge on the Eagles, coming from behind for a 2-1 overtime victory as Chris Albright hit the game-winner with less than four minutes until the end of ot. Former UVa assistant coach Bob Jenkins now leads the Eagles squad. Jenkins and George Gelnovatch were assistants together at Virginia from 1989-91.
THE SERIES WITH THE PANTHERS: Virginia and Adelphi stand at 1-1 in the series between the two schools. Adelphi won the opener in 1976 in the first game of the season for the Cavaliers, 3-1. Virginia gained revenge on the squad from GC with a 1-0 win in the 1987 Coca-Cola Classic.
VIRGINIA CLAIMS THREE M.A.C. DADDIES: Virginia’s Chris Albright, Matt Chulis, and Jason Moore are all candidates for the 1998 Missouri Athletic Club Sports Foundation Collegiate Player of the Year. Virginia is the only school with three representatives on the candidate list.
ALBRIGHT’S ALL RIGHT: Chris Albright’s multiple-goal game against Buffalo marked the third time that the sophomore has tallied multiple goals in a game this season and the fifth time in his career. He has also tallied three game-winning goals this season. He was named the ACC Player of the Week for his efforts in the games against Buffalo and ACC-rival N. C. State. He scored a goal in the N. C. State game. Albright ranks tenth in the nation in goals-per-game with 1.10 gpg and 13th in points-per-game at 2.30.
YELLING FOR YETSO: The Cavaliers have allowed only six goals this season for a GAA of .557. Virginia is ranked ninth in the country in scoring defense. Brock Yetso is ranked seventh in the nation in goals against average, sporting a .42 GAA. He is now ranked fourth in Virginia career history with 3547 minutes played in goal, surpassing Bill Wallace’s 3513. He also needs one more save to tie current Virginia goalkeeping coach Keith Lenert with 112 saves and sixth-place all-time on the UVa career charts in saves.
GREEN’S NOT ALL THAT GREEN: Michael Green showed his veteran poise by collecting an assist on the game-winning goal against N. C. State and adding an insurance goal near the end of the game. It was his second game-winning assist in his career and his first career goal.
UVA ONLY THREE WINS AWAY FROM 500: With three more victories this season, Virginia will record the 500th win in the history of its men’s soccer program. When the Cavaliers reach that milestone, they will become the first team in Atlantic Coast Conference men’s soccer history with 500 victories (Duke currently ranks second with 487 all-time wins). The majority of UVa’s victories have come in the last 20 years, with the Cavaliers posting a 338-66-39 record since the beginning of the 1978 season. Entering the American game, Virginia’s all-time record stands at 497-230-76 for a .666 winning percentage.
GEORGE PULLS INTO SECOND: With the Cavaliers’ seventh win in 1998, Virginia third-year head coach George Gelnovatch has reached 43 wins at Virginia, making him the second-most winningest coach in Virginia soccer history. His 40th win put him just ahead of former mentor Gene Corrigan (1958-65). Corrigan, who later became the Commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference after his stint as Virginia’s soccer coach, finished with a record of 39-35-7 (.525) while Gelnovatch has a current record of 41-7-8 (.806). He now trails only Bruce Arena (295-59-31/18 years). In addition, Gelnovatch needs 8 more wins this season to become the first men’s soccer coach in Atlantic Coast Conference history to record 50 victories in his first three seasons. He also has a chance to become the first ACC coach to reach 50 wins before he has 10 losses.
800!!: The Cavaliers’ game against Marshall was the programs’ 800th in school history. With the win, Virginia improved its all-time record to 66.5%. Entering the American game, the Cavaliers now have a record of 497-230-76in 803 games for a .666 winning percentage.
SAM’S DA MAN: Sam Franklin scored the game-winner in consecutive games last week–his first two game-winning goals in his career. Against Marshall he headed in a corner kick from Ryan Trout and against UNC his shot ricocheted off a defender and into the cage.
TARRING THE HEELS: Chris Albright tallied a goal against the Heels, his team-leading eighth on the season. His 2.13 points per game ranks third in the ACC and his 1.00 goals-per-game ranks second in the conference. It is the third consecutive game that Albright has scored against the Heels.
RIDING THE WAKE: The Cavaliers, who have never lost in Winston-Salem, pulled another victory out on Satuday night against Wake Forest. With the Demon Deacons leading 2-1 with under five minutes to go, Steve Totten found the ball at his feet on the endline and the Wake keeper at the near post. Totten liften the ball to the far post and into the net, sending the game into ot. Virginia had played the entire game without the services of ACC Rookie of the Year Jason Moore, who had left the game in the first two minutes of play with an injury.
ALBRIGHT HAT TRICKS HOKIES: Chris Albright continued continued his torrid scoring streak with a hat trick against Virginia Tech. Albright, the team’s leading scorer in 1997, also is leading the team in 1998 with 23 points on 11 g’s. Albright’s six goals is more than the rest of the team combined. It was the first hat trick by a Cavalier since Matt Leonard struck three times against Liberty on October 1, 1997. It was his second consecutive multiple-goal game and his fourth in his career.
TOTTEN SPLASHES IN: The Cavaliers’ Steve Totten has already made an impact on ACC soccer has he scored a goal and added two assists in the Cavaliers’ 4-1 victory over Maryland. Against Wake Forest, Totten scored the game-tying goal to give the Cavaliers the tie in their first ACC road game. In his first ACC game, Totten opened the scoring at the 8:40 mark when he took a pass from Jason Moore in the right side of the penalty box and found the net from 12 yards out. He then had an assist on the Cavaliers’ next goal, intercepting a pass in the Maryland end and sending the ball ahead to Chris Albright in the box for the score. Totten added a second assist on UVa’s final score, taking a pass from Drew O’Donnell in the left side of the box and playing it toward the center, where Albright headed the ball into the net. Totten added a goal in the Cavaliers’ game against N. C. State, which gives him 3 goals and 2 assists in the four ACC games. Totten, who scored his first goal as a Cavalier in the Cal State Fullerton game, is now ranked in scoring with six points on two goals and two assists. One of three freshmen to start all four games this season for the Cavaliers, Totten was an NSCAA and Parade All-American at the Peddie School in Allentown, N.J., last year. He was named to Soccer America’s team of the week for September 15.
HAT TRICK AGAINST VIRGINIA TECH: With Virginia’s 3-0 win over Tech, the Cavaliers have now scored three goals against the Hokies in three consecutive games.
ALBRIGHT FINDS THE NET TWICE AGAINST MARYLAND: Sophomore forward Chris Albright, the Cavaliers’ top returning scorer from 1997, had a pair of goals in the Maryland game. His first goal was the game winner, when he ran onto a pass from Steve Totten in the right side of the penalty box and one-timed it into the net from 14 yards away. Albright also scored Virginia’s final goal of the game, when he headed in a pass from Totten from 12 yards out in the center. With that performance Albright has now scored two goals in a game three times in his career and twice against ACC opponents. Last year he scored twice against both Akron and Wake Forest. Albright was named the Offensive MVP of the season-opening Fila Classic.
BARNES GETS FIRST GOAL AGAINST MARYLAND: Freshman forward Sheldon Barnes scored the first goal of his collegiate career in the victory over Maryland. Barnes scored an unassisted goal to give the Cavaliers a 3-0 lead in the 43rd minute, stealing the ball on the right flank and dribbling past a defender before scoring from 16 yards out in the right side of the box. He scored his first career point a week earlier with an assist on the game-winning goal against San Diego, winning the ball at midfield and sending it to Ryan Trout in the center, before Trout found the net for the only goal of the game. Last year, Barnes was the Florida state Player of the Year, while also earning high school All-America honors from both Parade and the NSCAA.
TROUT CONTINUES TO SCORE: Sophomore forward Ryan Trout has been a key part of the UVa offense so far this season, scoring three of the Cavaliers’ goals and assisting on six others. Against San Diego Trout took a pass from Sheldon Barnes and chipped a shot over the goalkeeper from 25 yards out in the center to record the game-winning goal. In the Cal State Fullerton game he took a pass from Drew O’Donnell in the right corner and sent a cross into the box which Steve Totten volleyed in for the goal. Against Lehigh Trout had assists on both goals, with Chris Albright heading in a cross for the first goal and Rob Wright knocking in a cross for the game winner. He also scored the opening goal against Wake Forest, playing center mid in place of the injured Jason Moore. His blast from 22 yards out gave Virginia the early lead. Trout notched the game-winning assist in the Marshall game and he also scored in the Buffalo game. Trout now has 29 points in his UVa career on six goals and 17 assists, with three of his goals being game winners. Tenth place on the all-time Virginia assist chart is 22, set by 5 people.
WRIGHT MAKES FIRST GOAL A BIG ONE: Freshman forward Rob Wright, who joined the team as a walk-on in August, scored the first goal of his collegiate career in the victory over Lehigh. Wright’s goal was the game winner, as he knocked in a cross by Ryan Trout from six yards out at the far post after the ball had found its way through traffic. Wright, who has seen action in all ten of the Cavaliers’ games off the bench, led his district in scoring and was named first team all-state last season at First Colonial High School in Virginia Beach.
SPREADING IT AROUND: The Cavaliers have used a balanced offensive attack so far this season while posting a 8-0-2 record in their first ten games. Virginia has scored 28 goals on the year, with eight different players finding the net. Ryan Trout scored the game winner against San Diego, while Steve Totten had the Cavaliers’ lone goal in the Cal State Fullerton game. Against Lehigh both Chris Albright and Rob Wright found the net for UVa, while Albright scored twice and Totten and Sheldon Barnes added goals in the Maryland contest. Albright added a hat trick and was UVa’s only goal-scorer against Virginia Tech. Trout and Totten both notched goals against Wake Forest. Four different goal scorers tallied in the Marshall game, including Sam Franklin as he scored his third career goal, which was also the game-winner. He had a second consecutive game-winner in the NOrth Carolina game. Drew O’Donnel joined the goal group in the Buffalo game, and Michael Green tallied his first career goal against N. C. State.
YETSO LEAPS TO STOP WAKE: Senior goalkeeper Brock Yetso turned in still another outstanding performance in the tie against Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons peppered the Virginia keeper but Yetso made a series of diving saves on point blank shots to thwart the Deacons. Against Maryland, Yetso faced 10 Terrapin shots and made three saves while allowing only one goal. Over the course of his career, Yetso has now faced Maryland three times and allowed only one goal in 300 minutes while making 10 saves. For the season he has posted an 0.76 goals against average while making twelve saves and having no losses in four appearances. Yetso also has 104 career saves , making him only the seventh Cavaliers with more than 100 career saves. His 3,265 minutes in goal has placed him fifth all-time at Virginia in that catagory, surpassing current Cavalier coach Keith Lenert.
CHULIS AND MOORE NAMED HERMANN TROPHY FINALISTS: Senior defender Matt Chulis and sophomore midfielder Jason Moore are among the 15 finalists who have been named for the 32nd annual Hermann Trophy. Chulis and Moore make Virginia one of only four schools to have more than one finalist, along with Duke, Indiana and UCLA. The winner of the Hermann Trophy will be announced on Dec. 12 in Richmond, Va. If either Chulis or Moore wins the award he would be the fourth player in school history to receive the honor, along with Tony Meola (1989), Claudio Reyna (1993) and Mike Fisher (1995 and 1996).
MOORE GETS ANOTHER ASSIST IN TECH GAME: Sophomore midfielder Jason Moore has continued to show his value to the Cavaliers as one of the top passers and ball handlers on the squad. Moore played the entire 90 minutes against Virginia Tech, adding an assist on Albright’s second goal to put the Cavaliers ahead 2-0. Moore sent in a booming free kick into the box from 40 yards out where Albright headed it into the net passed the surprised goalie. Against Maryland he had an assist on Virginia’s opening goal, taking the ball from the left side near midfield and sending a pass to Steve Totten for the score. Moore had recorded his first assist of the season in the previous game against Lehigh, with it coming on the game-winning goal. Moore took a free kick from 25 yards out in the center and played the ball to Ryan Trout in the right side of the box, before Trout crossed the ball to Rob Wright for the goal. Over the course of his UVa career Moore now has a total of 12 assists, with five of them coming on game-winning goals.
O’DONNELL CONTINUES TO SHOW VERSATILITY: Junior Drew O’Donnell has proved very valuable for the Cavaliers so far this season, starting four games at right back and twice as a flank midfielder. O’Donnell has played a big role for the UVa defense, with the Cavaliers surrendered only five goals in 610 minutes. He has also made offensive contributions with three assists. O’Donnell’s last assist came on the final goal of the Tech game with just 10 minutes remaining in the game. He beat his defender to the end line and sent in a crossing pass to Albright, who screened the Tech goalie and easily beat him with a half-volley. He also assisted on the last goal in the Maryland game when he played the ball to Steve Totten in the left side of the penalty box, before Totten passed to Chris Albright for the score. Over the course of his career, O’Donnell has now totaled 10 points on two goals and six assists.
ALBRIGHT STARS FOR UNDER-20 NATIONAL TEAM: Sophomore forward Chris Albright scored four goals and one assist in three games as the United States under-20 team finished in first place in CONCACAF qualifying, held in Trinidad in early August. Albright scored two goals in a 5-1 victory over Canada, then added two goals and an assist in a 6-1 win against Trinidad & Tobago. In both contests, Albright scored the first goal of the game. The U.S. played Costa Rica to a 1-1 tie in its other game. By finishing with their 2-0-1 record, the Americans earn a spot in the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship, to be played in Nigeria next April.
TWO CAVALIERS NAMED PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS: Senior defender Matt Chulis and sophomore forward Chris Albright have both been named to the Soccer America preseason All-America teams. Chulis, a first team selection, has earned second team All-America and first team All-ACC honors each of the last two seasons. Albright, a second team selection, was named to the Soccer America National All-Freshman team and the All-ACC Tournament team last season. Virginia was one of only four schools to have more than one player named to the squads.
THE HONOR ROLL: Since 1978, 19 UVa players have been named All-Americans, including 11 first-team selections. Five have left UVa as two-time All-Americans, three as three-time All-Americans and one (Jeff Agoos, 1986-90) as a four-time All-American. In addition, over the past 12 seasons UVa has produced 38 first-team all-ACC selections, 18 more than any other ACC school.
NINE CAVALIERS NAMED TO 1997-98 ACC ACADEMIC HONOR ROLL: The UVa men’s soccer team placed nine players on the 1997-98 Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Honor Roll. The list is comprised of all athletes in the conference who achieve a grade point average of 3.0 or better for the full academic year. Current players Matt Chulis, Mike Feller, Sam Franklin and Billy Petersen were all named to the Honor Roll, along with departed seniors Matt Laughlin, Matt Leonard, Yuri Sagatov, Andriy Shapowal and Joaquin Targhetta. Overall, Virginia had 240 student athletes named to the Honor Roll.
THE DYNASTY: Since 1989, UVa has won five NCAA titles (1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994), advanced to at least the NCAA semifinals seven times, and compiled an overall record of 181-25-22 (.842). From the beginning of the 1991 season until now, Virginia has lost just 17 games, going 148-17-14 (.866), including 116-10-4 (.908) against teams from outside the ACC. In the last eight years, UVa has won six ACC Championships and had five National Players of the Year.
VIRGINIA CLAIMS ACC TOURNAMENT AND REGULAR SEASON TITLES: The Cavaliers claimed the championship of last season’s ACC Tournament, marking the seventh time they have won the tournament. In the 11 year history of the ACC Tournament, which began in 1987, Virginia remains the only school to win the title more than once. Overall, the Cavaliers have an all-time record of 17-4-3 in ACC Tournament games, winning titles in 1988, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95 and ’97. Virginia also tied for the 1997 ACC regular season title with Duke and North Carolina State, posting a 3-1-2 (.667) mark in conference games. That marked the 13th time the Cavaliers won the ACC regular season title, but the first time UVa has finished in a tie for first. The only school with more regular season ACC championships than Virginia is Maryland with 17, while Clemson has also won 13 titles. The Cavaliers previous ACC regular season titles came in 1969, ’70, ’83, ’84, ’86, ’87, ’88, ’89, ’91, ’92, ’95 and ’96.
THE ALL-AMERICAN TEAM: Once again last season, a number of Cavaliers were selected as All-Americans by the National Soccer Coaches Association of American (NSCAA). Three UVa players were selected to the teams, tying Virginia with Indiana for the most selections last year. Ben Olsen earned first team All-America honors, Matt Chulis was a second team selection for the second year in a row, and Scott Vermillion earned third team honors. Virginia has now had at least two NSCAA All-America selections each of the last seven years, while having at least one first team choice for the 13 straight season.
CAVALIERS PLACE FOUR ON ALL-ACC TEAMS: Four Virginia players were named to the 1997 All-Atlantic Coast Conference teams, with all four being first team selections. Matt Chulis, Ben Olsen and Scott Vermillion were all named to the first team for the second consecutive season, while Brian West earned All-ACC honors for the first time. Other than Virginia, the only other schools to place more than one player on the first team were Duke and Maryland with two each. Virginia has now had at least four players earn All-ACC honors for seven consecutive seasons.
SCOUTING THE EAGLES: The Eagles, who advanced to the NCAA Elite 8 in 1997, were hit hard by graduation and injuries. The team, which sports a 2-6-1 record in 1997, is led by Scott Weber, who has three goals and an assist to pace the Eagle attack. They are 5-1 against ranked teams this season, with a win over then-#18 Penn State.
SCOUTING THE PANTHERS: Adelphia has also struggled through an uncharacteristic season, going 2-7-1 in the opening ten games. The Panthers are led by Teemu Juutilainen, one opf four Finns on the Panther squad. The Panthers have a decided international flavor, with nine players coming from outside the United States.
EARLIER: The Eagles and the Panthers met up at the Old Republic Tournament at Adelphi, with AU coming away with the 1-0 win as Weber assisted Jamie Dulin.
Where the 1998 Cavaliers stand on the Virginia all-time lists:
Brock Yetso 6th in goals against average (0.84) next: Jeff Causey (0.78) 6th in solo shutouts (8) next: Mark Peters (9) 7th in saves (111) next: Keith Lenert (112) 7th in save percentage (.763) next: Jeff Causey (.803) 7th in games played goal (43) next: Bill Wallace (45) 4th in minutes played goal (3,547) next: Yuri Sagatov (3,948)