UVa Set to Battle NC State... Again

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November 11, 1998

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No. 5 Virginia (12-2-3) vs. N.C. State (4-12-0)
Spry Stadium * Winston-Salem, N.C. * Nov. 12, 1998 * 5:30 p.m.

THE SERIES WITH THE WOLFPACK: Virginia leads the all-time series with N.C. State32-14-6 in a series that dates back to the 1949 season. The two teams have met at leastonce every season since then save the 1970 campaign. UVa defeated NCSU 4-0 Oct. 3 of thisseason, tying their season high for scoring margin in a game. The Cavaliers have won sevenof the last eight meetings. State’s lone win in that span was a 2-1 overtime victory lastfall in Raleigh, N.C. However, the last time the Wahoos and the Wolfpack hooked up in theACC Tournament, State was victorious. The Pack knocked off the ‘Hoos 2-1 in the finals ofthe 1990 tournament.

UVa IN THE ACC TOURNAMENT: The Cavaliers own an 18-4-3 record in Atlantic CoastConference Tournament action since the single-elimination event began in 1987. Afterposting just a 2-3-2 mark in the first four tournaments, the Wahoos have been nearlyunstoppable with a 16-1-1 mark from 1991 through last season’s. The one loss came toMaryland in the 1996 finals and the lone tie was a 2-2 knot with Clemson in the 1994semifinal, from which the Cavs advanced 5-4 in penalty kicks. In all, the Blue and Orangehas claimed seven of the 11 ACC Tournament titles and has been in the finals each of thepast eight years.

CAVALIERS UNDEFEATED IN WINSTON-SALEM: Virginia is 8-0-2 all-time in Winston-Salemwith all 10 matches being played against Wake Forest. The Cavaliers tied Wake 2-2 earlierthis season at Spry Stadium.

CHULIS HONORED BY SOCCER AMERICA: Senior defender Matt Chulis played a large roll inthe Cavaliers two shutouts last week and Wednesday he was honored for it. A native ofCentral Islip, N.Y., Chulis was named to Soccer America’s national team of the week forthe week ending Nov. 8. This was the first such honor this season for Chulis, who hashelped keep defenders scoreless for the last 230 minutes, 59 seconds.

FRANKLIN BOOTS OHIO STATE: Senior midfielder Sam Franklin nailed a one-timer from 20yards at the 80:27 mark to lead the Cavaliers past Ohio State 1-0 Saturday at KloecknerStadium. Franklin, who was playing in his final regular-season home game, now has fourgoals on the year — all game-winners. This one came thanks to a little fate. Matt Chulispassed to Steve Totten, who tried to pass to Chris Albright in the box. However, an OSUdefender punched the ball out, but right to Franklin for the score. The goal put an end toa 229-minute, 39-second scoring drought for the Cavaliers, their longest such stretchsince the 1981 season. Meanwhile, UVa notched its second straight shutout for the secondtime this year.

SAM’S THE MAN: Sam Franklin scored the game-winner in the Cavaliers’ victory over OhioState. Franklin has a nack for scoring just at the right times. He has four goals thisseason and all of them are game-winners. Franklin, a senior from Arlington, has six goalson his career and 19 points.

JUST ANOTHER NOTCH IN THE BELT: No big news for senior defender Matt Chulis. TheCavaliers shutout of Ohio State gives Chulis 31 shutouts in his career at Virginia. Thenative of Central Islip, N.Y., has started every game in which he has played during hiscareer on Grounds — an impressive 88-game run. That ranks him in a six-way tie for sixthin UVa history for career games played. Chulis has also played every minute this year,something which no other Cavalier can claim. His 8,256 career minutes played ranks fourthand just 22 minutes behind Jeff Agoos for third.

YETSO LANDS IN SECOND: Senior keeper Brock Yetso moved into second place all-time atVirginia against Ohio State in minutes played in goal. The Columbia, Md., native now has4,072 minutes, moving ahead of Bob Willen’s 4,045. However, barring a miracle, Yetso willremain in second for the rest of the way as the school record is 7,050 by Jeff Causey.

CAVALIERS, TRIBE SLIP, SLIDE TO STANDSTILL: Virginia and the College of William & Maryplayed 120 minutes last week and solved nothing. The game ended in a 0-0 tie after a pairof extra periods on a rain-drenched sod of the Virginia Beach SportsPlex. The field, whichis prescription athletic turf, remained in relatively good condition; however, a steadymist of rain and temperatures in the low 40s made playing conditions less than favorable.It was the first scoreless tie for the Cavs since Sept. 7, 1997 when the ‘Hoos andMaryland knotted without scoring.

ALBRIGHT CLIMBING CHARTS: Sophomore forward Chris Albright now has 18 goals on theseason. He leads the team in that category and ranks second in the ACC. Albright is justfive goals shy of A.J. Wood’s UVa record of 23 goals in a season, which was set in 1994.The Virginia sophomore record is 21 by Jeff Gaffney in 1983. Albright is also vying tobecome the first sophomore to lead the team outright in both scoring and goals sinceGaffney in 1983.

ALBRIGHT ON THREE SOCCER AMERICA TEAMS: Sophomore forward Chris Albright was named toSoccer America’s national collegiate team of the week three times during the regularseason. His last selection came for the week of Nov. 2, his second consecutive week on theteam, after Albright netted a pair of goals in both UVa games the previous week, includingthe game-winner in both matches.

WAHOOS CLAIM 500th WIN: UVa’s ramatic 2-1 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson gaveVirginia its 500th all-time win in men’s soccer. The Cavaliers become the first team inAtlantic Coast Conference men’s soccer history with 500 victories (Duke currently rankssecond with 492 all-time wins). The majority of UVa’s victories have come in the last 20years, with the Cavaliers posting a 344-68-40 record since 1978. Entering the FDU game,Virginia’s all-time record stands at 502-232-78 for a .666 winning percentage.

ALBRIGHT DUBBED ACC PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Sophomore forward Chris Albright was named ACCPlayer of the Week for the week of Oct. 19 thanks to his one-goal, one-assist performanceagainst Duke. Albright assisted Steve Totten’s first-half goal to put UVa up 1-0. In thesecond half, after the Devils had taken a 2-1 lead, he tied the score with his 14th goalof the season in the 82nd minute.

WRIGHT’S DINK DUMPS DEVILS: Freshman Rob Wright trickled a shot past Duke keeper AltiKnuttson and just inside the left post with 12 seconds remaining Sunday to give theCavaliers a 3-2 win over then-No. 3 Duke in Charlottesville. UVa took a 1-0 lead thanks toa Steve Totten goal five minutes into the match. However, a pair of second-half Duke goalsgave the Devils a 2-1 lead with less than 12 minutes to play. In the 82nd minute, ChrisAlbright netted his 14th goal of the season to knot the score 2-2 before Wright hit thegame winner just minutes later. It was the fourth consecutive victory against Duke for theCavaliers, who now lead the all-time series 29-26-7.

CAVALIERS GO 1-1 AT COCA-COLA CLASSIC: Virginia rebounded from its opening day lossin the Coca-Cola Classic to defeat the Adelphi Panthers 3-0. Five different Cavaliersscored in the game as the Cavaliers rebounded from their first loss of the season. MattChulis, Sam Franklin, and Chris Albright were all named to the All-Tournament team.Marshall, a team the Cavaliers had defeated 4-0 earlier in the month, claimed the titlewith a pair of overtime victories.

VIRGINIA CLAIMS THREE M.A.C. DADDIES: Virginia’s Chris Albright, Matt Chulis, andJason Moore are all candidates for the 1998 Missouri Athletic Club Sports FoundationCollegiate Player of the Year. Virginia is the only school with three representatives onthe candidate list.

ALBRIGHT’S ALL RIGHT: Chris Albright’s multiple-goal game against Buffalo marked thethird time that the sophomore has tallied multiple goals in a game this season and thefifth time in his career. He has also tallied three game-winning goals this season. He wasnamed the ACC Player of the Week for his efforts in the games against Buffalo andACC-rival N.C. State. He scored a goal in the N.C. State game.

GREEN’S NOT ALL THAT GREEN: Michael Green showed his veteran poise by collecting anassist on the game-winning goal against N.C. State and adding an insurance goal near theend of the game. It was his second game-winning assist in his career and his first careergoal.

GEORGE PULLS INTO SECOND: With the Cavaliers’ ninth win in 1998, Virginia third-yearhead coach George Gelnovatch has reached 44 wins at Virginia, making him thesecond-winningest coach in Virginia soccer history. His 40th win put him just ahead offormer mentor Gene Corrigan (1958-65). Corrigan, who later became the Commissioner of theAtlantic Coast Conference after his stint as Virginia’s soccer coach, finished with arecord of 39-35-7 (.525) while Gelnovatch has a current record of 48-9-9 (.795). He nowtrails only Bruce Arena (295-59-31 in 18 seasons). In addition, Gelnovatch needs two morewins this season to become the first men’s soccer coach in Atlantic Coast Conferencehistory to record 50 victories by the end of his third season. He also has a chance tobecome the first ACC coach to reach 50 wins before he has 10 losses.

800!!: The Cavaliers’ game against Marshall was the program’s 800th in school history.With the win, Virginia improved its all-time winning percnetage to .665.

RIDING THE WAKE: The Cavaliers, who have never lost in Winston-Salem, pulled anothervictory out against Wake Forest earlier this season. With the Demon Deacons leading 2-1with under five minutes to go, Steve Totten found the ball at his feet on the endline andthe Wake keeper at the near post. Totten lifted the ball to the far post and into the net,sending the game into overtime. Virginia played the entire game without the services of1997 ACC Rookie of the Year Jason Moore, who left the game in the first two minutes ofplay with an injury.

ALBRIGHT HAT TRICKS HOKIES: Chris Albright continued continued his torrid scoringstreak with a hat trick against Virginia Tech. It was the first hat trick by a Cavaliersince Matt Leonard struck three times against Liberty on October 1, 1997.

TOTTEN SPLASHES IN: Midfielder Steve Totten earned Soccer America team of the weekhonors Sept. 15 in just his second week of collegiate play. One of only four players tostart every game this season and the only freshman to do so, Totten was an NSCAA andParade All-American at the Peddie School in Allentown, N.J., last year.

BARNES GETS FIRST GOAL AGAINST MARYLAND: Freshman forward Sheldon Barnes scored thefirst goal of his collegiate career in the victory over Maryland. Barnes scored anunassisted goal to give the Cavaliers a 3-0 lead in the 43rd minute, stealing the ball onthe right flank and dribbling past a defender before scoring from 16 yards out in theright side of the box. He scored his first career point a week earlier with an assist onthe game-winning goal against San Diego, winning the ball at midfield and sending it toRyan Trout in the center, before Trout found the net for the only goal of the game. Lastyear, Barnes was the Florida state Player of the Year, while also earning high schoolAll-America honors from both Parade and the NSCAA.

TROUT CONTINUES TO SCORE: Sophomore forward Ryan Trout has been a key part of the UVaoffense this season, scoring four goals and assisting on nine others. He is tied for thirdon the team in goals and leads the squad in assists. Trout now has 34 points in his UVacareer on seven goals and 20 assists, with three of his goals and five of his assistsbeing game-winners. He is in 11th place all-time at Virginia in career assists, two shy ofa six-way tie for 10th.

WRIGHT MAKES FIRST GOAL A BIG ONE: Freshman forward Rob Wright, who joined the team asa walk-on in August, scored the first goal of his collegiate career in the victory overLehigh. Wright’s goal was the game winner, as he knocked in a cross by Ryan Trout from sixyards out at the far post after the ball had found its way through traffic. Then, hescored the game winner Oct. 25 against Duke with 12 seconds remaining in regulation play.Wright, who has seen action in 17 games (16 off the bench and one as a starter), led hisdistrict in scoring and was named first-team all-state last season at First Colonial HighSchool in Virginia Beach.

CHULIS, MOORE NAMED HERMANN TROPHY FINALISTS: Senior defender Matt Chulis andsophomore midfielder Jason Moore are among the 15 finalists who have been named for the32nd annual Hermann Trophy. Chulis and Moore make Virginia one of only four schools tohave more than one finalist, along with Duke, Indiana and UCLA. The winner of the HermannTrophy will be announced on Dec. 12 in Richmond, Va. If either Chulis or Moore wins theaward, he would be the fourth player in school history to receive the honor along withTony Meola (1989), Claudio Reyna (1993) and Mike Fisher (1995 and 1996).

MOORE LENDS A HAND … ER, FOOT: Sophomore midfielder Jason Moore has continued toshow his value to the Cavaliers as one of the top passers and ball handlers on the squad.Moore has seven assists this season, second on the team, and three of them weregame-winners. Over the course of his UVa career, he now has a total of 16 assists, withseven of them coming on game-winning goals. Moore has started 17 of UVa’s 18 games thisfall.

ALBRIGHT STARS FOR UNDER-20 NATIONAL TEAM: Sophomore forward Chris Albright scoredfour goals and one assist in three games as the United States under-20 team finished infirst place in CONCACAF qualifying, held in Trinidad in early August. Albright scored twogoals in a 5-1 victory over Canada, then added two goals and an assist in a 6-1 winagainst 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 2-0-1record, the Americans earn a spot in the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship, to be playedin Nigeria next April.

TWO CAVALIERS NAMED PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS: Senior defender Matt Chulis and sophomoreforward Chris Albright have both been named to the Soccer America preseason All-Americateams. Chulis, a first team selection, has earned second team All-America and first teamAll-ACC honors each of the last two seasons. Albright, a second team selection, was namedto the Soccer America National All-Freshman team and the All-ACC Tournament team lastseason. Virginia was one of only four schools to have more than one player named to thesquads.

THE HONOR ROLL: Since 1978, 19 UVa players have been named All-Americans, including 11first-team selections. Five have left UVa as two-time All-Americans, three as three-timeAll-Americans and one (Jeff Agoos, 1986-90) as a four-time All-American. In addition, overthe past 12 seasons UVa has produced 38 first-team all-ACC selections, 18 more than anyother ACC school.

NINE CAVALIERS NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-ACC: The UVa men’s soccer team placed nine playerson the 1997-98 Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Honor Roll. The list is comprised of allathletes in the conference who achieve a grade point average of 3.0 or better for the fullacademic year. Current players Matt Chulis, Mike Feller, Sam Franklin and Billy Petersenwere 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 studentathletes 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, andcompiled an overall record of 186-27-23 (.837). From the beginning of the 1991 seasonuntil now, Virginia has lost just 19 games, going 153-19-15 (.868), including 120-11-5(.901) against teams from outside the ACC. In the last eight years, UVa has won six ACCChampionships and had five national players of the year.

SCOUTING THE WOLFPACK: N.C. State enters the ACC Tournament with a 5-12 overallrecord. The Wolfpack was blanked in conference play, going 0-6. Offense has been theproblem for NCSU, which has scored just 17 goals all season. Consider: UVa forward ChrisAlbright has scored 18 goals himself. The Pack has been outscored 41-17 this season and ithas been outshot 292-191. Sebastian Rodriguez leads the team in both goals (five) andscoring (12). Shaker Asad has four goals, while Nick Olivencia and Chris Wargin have twoeach. No other State player has scored more than two goals this year. Tony Malcolm leadsthe team with three assists. Rodriguez, Michael Karim and Juan Camilo Vallejo have a pairof assists each as the only other members of the Pack with multiple assists on the season.Eric Handley has seen all but 45 minutes of State’s action in goal and has started all 17games. He has made 84 saves this fall while allowing 40 goals for an average of 2.38 goalsagainst per game. Handley has tossed a pair of shutouts, those coming against CoastalCarolina and in the regular-season finale against East Carolina. N.C. State opened theseason with a win against Charleston Southern and then dropped six straight. The Pack’swin against East Carolina last week was snapped a four-game skid. State has not wonback-to-back games the season. Only two of the Wolfpack’s 17 games have gone to overtimeand State dropped both decisions. NCSU is 1-5 away from Raleigh this autumn, 0-2 inneutral venues.