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Nov. 26, 2003

Recap?|?Box Score | Video Highlights

Virginia Head Coach George Gelnovatch

“I cannot be more proud of my team’s resolve. We bent at times, but never broke. We stuck to the game plan. It was really fantastic stuff for this young group.”

On last week’s comment of the team being at its best right now?
“Arguably, Wake is the best team we’ve played all year. We’ve faced them three times. We’re young, they’re more experienced. We got off two great goals, and we made great plays defending. We missed those opportunities in the beginning of the year, so I definitely think we’re at our best right now.”

Do you think being young team allows you to play with a nothing-to-lose mentality?
“I think they are, for the first time, experiencing great success and having fun with it. They realize we’re the spoiler. We’re still concentrating, still competing but we’re having fun. (At this point in the year) The team of half freshmen has now become a team of no freshmen.”

On the team’s attitude:
“I think we have a good looseness right now. When we were out here earlier (this afternoon at Spry Stadium), we did nothing but kicked around and had fun. We can have that reckless abandon right now.”

On moving on in the tournament:
“Both potential opponents for our next game are good teams. We’re going to enjoy our bus ride home and relax a bit before the next game.”

Virginia freshman forward Adam Cristman

On the pressure of not making NCAA Tournament:
“We knew that UVA has gone to NCAAs for 23 straight years, and we played with that pressure the last few games of the regular season, and lost all three. We pulled it together in ACCs and now we’re here.”

Virginia junior forward Mike Littlefield

On the pressure of not making NCAA Tournament:
“We have a better attitude now. There was a lot of pressure at the end of the season, but during tournament time we’re having more fun.”

Virginia freshman goalkeeper Ryan Burke

On allowing only one goal in last 550 minutes:
“I’ve said it a million times, I think we have some of the greatest defenders out there. As a GK I couldn’t ask for more. They came up huge tonight.”

Wake Forest Head Coach Jay Vidovich

“We didn’t do enough to put the game away. This is a disappointing loss for the team. We had high aspirations coming in, but we didn’t play as well as we could in this situation. I’m proud of us fighting all the way through to the end. I don’t think any of my players believed it was over until the last three minutes of the game. We showed character.”

Q: Was UVa any different each time you played them?
“Yes, they were different every time and we’ve been different each time as well. I think different injuries and different points in the season affected each team’s game. We’ve both played better against one another. I hope they can get healthy for the next round.”

Q: How were you affected by injuries to Jeremiah White and Tomy Szczypiorski (who suffered first half injuries)?
“I think they definitely affected us. It was a nightmare. We had injuries all over the place. We didn’t overcome it.”

Senior midfielder Vicente Bastidas

Q: How was last year’s loss to Clemson different?
“This was devastating. We prepared well but we play well tonight. We didn’t play as well as we should have. The first goal was a killer, a dagger to our hearts. The second goal was a beautiful ball. You can’t take anything away from Virginia.”

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