No. 2 UVa Hosts Maryland Friday Night for the Right to Go to the NCAA College Cup
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CHARLOTTESVILLE – With the winner advancing to the NCAA College Cup, the No. 2 Virginia men’s soccer team hosts Maryland Friday at 7 p.m. at Klöckner Stadium in the quarterfinals of the 2009 NCAA Tournament. Live statistics will be available at VirginiaSports.com.
Fans planning to attend the game are encouraged to purchase tickets ahead of time online at VirginiaSports.com. Will Call tickets can be picked up at the Klöckner Stadium main entrance beginning at 6 p.m. Friday. Parking is $5 and available at all University Hall lots and John Paul Jones Arena lots.
Virginia (16-3-3) continued its red-hot streak with a 1-0 win over Portland on Sunday (Nov. 29) in the third round. The Cavaliers are unbeaten in their last 13 games, have shut out 10-consecutive opponents and are through to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2006.
Goalkeeper Diego Restrepo (West Palm Beach, Fla.) came up with another spectacular shutout in goal vs. the Pilots, extending his school-record to 14 shutouts this season. Restrepo has not allowed a goal in 1,017 minutes and 34 seconds, and is chasing the NCAA record for consecutive shutout minutes (1,318:26 set by Michigan State keeper Avery Steinlage earlier this year).
Restrepo leads the nation in goals-against average (0.306) and save percentage (0.892). Virginia is also approaching the shutouts in a season school record, which is 17 set in 1988. The Cavaliers have 15 shutouts in 2009 and have out-scored their opponents, 32-7. Of the eight teams left, only Virginia, North Carolina and Akron have not allowed a goal during the tournament.
Freshman Ari Dimas (Chesapeake, Va.) scored the game-winning goal vs. the Pilots in the 47th minute, his first of the year and of his career. Fellow freshman Will Bates (Chester, Va.) leads the team with 11 goals and had a hat trick vs. Bucknell in UVa’s 5-0 first round victory.
The Terrapins (15-5-2) earned an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament and are making their 27th-ever appearance (ninth-straight). Maryland has won three NCAA Championships (2008, 2005, 1968).
Maryland is unseeded for the first time since 2001 and defeated Loyola (Md.), 2-1, in the first round in College Park, Md.
In the second round, the Terrapins traveled to seventh-seeded Penn State and dispatched the Nittany Lions, 2-1. The Terps continued their road trip in the third round, this time traveling to 10th-seeded Harvard, and defeated the Crimson, 2-0.
The teams have met twice this year, once during the regular season and one in the 2009 ACC Tournament.
On Oct. 31, 2009 at Ludwig Field in College Park, Md., the Terps and Cavs played to a double-overtime scoreless draw.
At the ACC Tournament in the quarterfinal round, fifth-seeded Virginia downed fourth-seeded Maryland, 1-0, on a goal by Tony Tchani in the 88th minute.
Virginia trails the all-time series with Maryland, 27-35-8. Prior to the 2009 season’s tie and win for UVa, Maryland had won three-straight in the series.
The winner of Friday’s match will advance to the 2009 NCAA College Cup in Cary, N.C., and will play the winner of Wake Forest vs. UCLA in the national semifinal on Friday, Dec. 11 at either 5 or 7:30 p.m.