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The men’s soccer team opens play at the 2010 NCAA Tournament at home against Old Dominion Thursday night. Kick-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. Head coach George Gelnovatch and senior goalkeeper Diego Restrepo preview the match-up.


Head Coach George Gelnovatch
On his team’s performance at the ACC Tournament:
The comment I made to the team was that I think we’ve regained a little form. We weren’t happy with the NC State performance at all. I can swallow the Maryland and the UNC losses, those are two pretty good teams. Even the Wake loss at home, we got the better of Wake when we went down to Cary. But the NC State loss kind of rubbed us the wrong way. I think going into the ACC Tournament was a point for us to refocus, and from that standpoint, mission accomplished. We played two good games, we played hard. We beat a good Wake team, who would have made the tournament if they beat us. Maryland we played very evenly, but if a couple different things had happened, we could have won that game very easily. And that’s a top seed, so I think we are in a good place. We are happy to be playing, we are happy to have another home game and at this point that’s all you can ask for.”

On the team not receiving a top-16 seed:
In 2008 we got a bye, but our second-round game was against UConn, who is a tough team. The year before that we didn’t have a bye at all. So every three or four years, it happens. With the recruiting cycles and losing players to the pros, and a couple other things that happen, every three or four years you’re not going to get a bye. This program has been to the quarterfinals four or five times in my tenure, and the College Cup three times. That’s seven times out of fifteen years. I think that’s a pretty good thing, and with everybody returning next year from our starting lineup except for Diego, and the recruiting class that is coming in, I’m predicting right now we’ll have a bye and we’ll hopefully be a top four seed and make another good run.”

On the match-up with Old Dominion:
They have a very good, dangerous forward from Ghana, Gideon Asante. They have a Costa Rican central midfielder who’s difficult, and they are a very hard-working team. It will be a tough first-round game.”


Senior goalkeeper Diego Restrepo
On the team’s performance at the ACC Tournament:

“In some ways yes, on Wednesday we played really well against Wake. The way we played felt like last year, everyone was attacking really hard, and the defense was playing great. I told my team this is how we played last year, and we all took it to our hearts to play really hard. Now moving forward, we know we are capable of playing like last year. It was a good performance in both games. We’re going to be fine in the NCAA Tournament. It was a confidence builder, which is a good thing for us right now.”

On the match-up with Old Dominion:
“I know a couple of the guys on ODU, and they are a great team. They have a great goalkeeper, midfielder and forward, so they are capable of beating teams. They beat UNC in the regular season. That shows what kind of a team they are. We just have to be careful and not look ahead to Penn State, because Old Dominion is capable of beating anyone.”

On not looking past Old Dominion:
“I take it game by game, because this could be my last home game. From experience, I tell the team to just take it game by game, minute by minute, play by play, and things will work out.”

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