#1 Seed Virginia Men's Soccer Defeats #4 Seed Wake Forest in Overtime, 1-0
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Nov. 16, 2001
CLEMSON, S.C. – The #2 ranked University of Virginia men’s soccer team, seeded #1 in Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Soccer Championship, defeated the #4 seeded Wake Forest Demon Deacons by the score of 1-0 in overtime in the semifinals of the 2001 ACC Championship at Historic Riggs Field this evening. UVa’s Kyle Martino (Westport, Conn./Staples), the 2001 ACC Player of the Year, scored the game-winning goal just 1:26 into the first overtime period to lift the Cavaliers to their 17th victory of the season.
Both teams played through two scoreless regulation periods, but Virginia goalkeeper David Comfort (Richmond, Va./Monacan) made an outstanding game-saving play with just over two minutes to go in the second period to force overtime. Wake Forest’s Bobby Gehring fired a shot in the UVa box that appeared to be headed into the goal for the game-winning score, but Comfort blocked the shot to send the game into overtime. In the overtime period, Martino gathered a misplayed ball in the Demon Deacon backfield and headed into the goal uncontested before chipping in a shot from five-yards out for the game-winning score. Martino’s goal, his sixth of the season, was his third game-winning score of the year.
With the win, Virginia’s record improves to 17-0-1 overall, while the loss drops Wake Forest’s record to 13-5-1 on the year. UVa remains undefeated on the season and improves to 23-7-3 all time in the ACC Championship. By advancing to the finals, Virginia will now be competing in 12 of the 15 total ACC Championship matches. The victory was also UVa head coach George Gelnovatch’s 99th career head coaching victory.
The Cavaliers will return to action on Sunday, November 18th when UVa faces the Clemson Tigers in the ACC Championship contest. The match is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. and will be played at Riggs Field on the campus of Clemson University. Clemson advanced to the finals by defeating North Carolina in the other semifinal contest.
Scoring 1 2 OT FWake Forest (13-5-1) 0 0 0 0Virginia (17-0-1) 0 0 1 1
Goals: UVa 1 – Martino (unassisted). WFU – none.Shots: UVa 15, WFU 5.Corner Kicks: UVa 7, WFU 4.Saves: WFU 6, UVa 2.Fouls: WFU 19, UVa 13.Cautions: UVa 2 – Cole, Oliver. WFU 2 – Caugherty, Gehring.Attendance: N/A
— UVA —