Virginia Men's Soccer Falls to Clemson in ACC Tournament Championship, 1-0

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Nov. 18, 2001

CLEMSON, S.C. – The #2 ranked University of Virginia men’s soccer team, seeded #1 in the 2001 Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Soccer Championship, dropped its first game of the season following a 1-0 loss to the Clemson Tigers in the ACC finals this evening in front of 3,033 spectators at Historic Riggs Field on the campus of Clemson University. In a physicalcontest that featured 64 fouls and 11 yellow cards, the Tigers prevailed over the Cavaliers with a one-goal victory when Ian Fuller scored the game-winning goal for Clemson, guiding the Tigers to an ACC Championship title.

After playing through a scoreless 36 minutes of play, the Tigers scored the match’s only goal when Clemson’s Brad Gibson and Brett Branan connected with Fuller, who one-timed a shot from 12 yards away at 36:47 that found its way past UVa goalkeeper David Comfort (Richmond, Va./Monacan) for the game-winning score. The Tigers took their 1-0 lead into halftime.

Virginia tried to answer Clemson’s score with a goal of its own as the Cavaliers outshot the Tigers 10-2 in the second period, but could not come up with an equalizing score. Clemson’s Doug Warren made key saves for the Tigers between the pipes and turned away several Virginia shots that appeared headed into the net for a UVa score. However, Clemson weathered Virginia’sstorm and survived with a 1-0 win, handing the Cavaliers their first defeat of the season.

UVa played the contest without starting forward Ryan Gibbs (West Chester, Pa./East) and defender Jonathan Cole (Annapolis, Md./McDonogh). Gibbs and Cole were injured during the Cavaliers 1-0 victory over Wake Forest in the ACC semifinals on Friday, November 16th.

With the loss, Virginia falls to 17-1-1 overall, while the win improves Clemson’s record to 17-4-0 on the year. The loss was UVa’s first since falling to Creighton by the score of 3-0 on December 2, 2000 in the NCAA Quarterfinals. By advancing to the ACC Championship game, Virginia has now competed in 12 of the total 15 ACC finals. UVa now stands 23-8-3 all-time inthe ACC Tournament.

Virginia’s Kyle Martino (Westport, Conn./Staples) and Sheldon Barnes (Miramar, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas) were named to the 2001 ACC All-Tournamentteam.

The Cavaliers will await to see who their next opponent is following the NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Championship selection show on Monday, November 19th. UVa will play the winner of a first round NCAA game (Friday, November 23rd) in the NCAA second round on Sunday, November 25th at Klockner Stadium in Charlottesville, Va. Virginia’s opponent and time of its contest is to bedetermined.

Scoring             	1   2   FClemson 	(17-4-0)        1   0   1Virginia    	(17-1-1)        0   0   0

Goals: CU 1 – Ian Fuller @ 36:47 (Gibson, Branan). UVa – none.Shots: UVa 14, CU 7.Corner Kicks: UVa 4, CU 4.Saves: CU 4, UVa 2.Fouls: CU 39, UVa 25.Cautions: CU 7 – Onyewu, Riddleberger, Souders, Rhynard,Fuller, Bringsved,Branan, UVa 4 – Arena, LeBlanc, Martino, Bush.Attendance: 3,033.

2001 ACC All-Tournament Team

Name School

Ian Fuller (MVP) ClemsonKyle Martino VirginiaSheldon Barnes VirginiaDoug Warren ClemsonOguchi Onyewu ClemsonRicky Lewis ClemsonRoss Goodacre ClemsonDavid Testo North CarolinaNoz Yamauchi North CarolinaAaron Thomas Wake ForestDemetrio Sanchez Duke

— UVA —