Virginia Opens ACC Tournament Play Tuesday at Wake Forest

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Nov. 5, 2012

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia men’s soccer team begins postseason play at 7 p.m. Tuesday when it travels to No. 12 Wake Forest for a quarterfinal match in the ACC Soccer Championship at Spry Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C. The Cavaliers are seeded sixth in the field, while Wake Forest is the No. 3 seed.

Live Coverage
A free webcast will be available at VirginiaSports.com. Live statistics also can be found at VirginiaSports.com, and in-game updates are available through the UVa men’s soccer Twitter account (@UVAMenSoccer).

Records
Virginia: 9-6-2 (ACC: 3-4-1/10 points)
Wake Forest: 11-3-4 (ACC: 4-1-3/15 points)

Noting the ACC Tournament
The winner of the UVa-Wake match will advance to the tournament semifinals at 8 p.m. Friday to take on the winner of the North Carolina-Duke contest. The semifinals and finals will be played at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Germantown, Md.

Top-seeded Maryland will face No. 9 seed Virginia Tech, and No. 4 Clemson will play host to No. 5 Boston College Tuesday.

Virginia-Wake Forest Series History
Virginia holds a 35-9-6 advantage in its series with Wake Forest, although the Demon Deacons scored a 4-1 win on Oct. 12 in Charlottesville. The winning team has scored four goals in each of the last three meetings.

Cavaliers Rank 15th in Latest NCAA RPI
Virginia is ranked No. 15 nationally in the latest edition of the NCAA’s Ratings Percentage Index. That is third highest of any ACC team; Wake Forest stands No. 16. The Cavaliers have played four of the top eight teams in the RPI – UCLA (3), Maryland (4), Georgetown (5) and North Carolina (8) – and 10 of the top 40 squads.

Virginia Bullet Points
• Virginia enters the tournament with a four-match unbeaten streak (3-0-1), the longest current streak in the league; UVa’s last loss was Oct. 12 to Wake Forest.
• The Cavaliers have clinched a .500 or better record for the 32nd consecutive season.
• Virginia’s 17 opponents have combined for a 169-90-42 record (.631) this season.
• Thirteen of Virginia’s 17 matches have been decided by one goal or a tie.
• Will Bates is tied for first in the ACC and 23rd nationally in goals with 11. He is tied with Maryland’s Patrick Mullins for the conference lead.
• UVa is 27-2-1 since 2009 when Bates scores a goal (only losses were last year at Wake Forest and this year against the Demon Deacons).
• The Cavaliers have started at least five freshmen in each match and have had at least eight underclassmen in each starting lineup.

Last Time Out: Virginia Downs NC State in Double OT
Darius Madison (Fr., Philadelphia, Pa.) scored the golden goal with just under seven minutes left in double overtime to lift the Virginia men’s soccer team to a 2-1 win at NC State Thursday evening in the teams’ regular-season finale at Dail Soccer Field. Will Bates (Sr., Chester, Va.) also scored on a penalty kick as the Cavaliers rallied from a 1-0 first-half deficit.

The Wolfpack took the lead in the 35th minute of play on a Connor Agnew goal, but the Cavaliers drew even in the 69th minute on a Bates penalty kick. The game winner came with 6:51 remaining in the second overtime. Zach Carroll (Fr., Grand Blanc, Mich.) lofted a long ball from the defensive end which bounced over the Wolfpack defense and gave Madison a one-on-one chance with the keeper. He took a touch and placed a shot inside the far post for his second goal of the season.

Virginia out-shot NC State, 13-8, and took nine corner kicks to one for the Wolfpack.

Noting Wake Forest
The Demon Deacons enter postseason play on a high after handing No. 1-ranked Maryland its first defeat of the season last Thursday with a 4-2 win in Winston-Salem. Reigning ACC Player of the Week Sean Okoli, who scored a goal and added an assist against the Terrapins, leads the team with 10 goals and a pair of assists for 22 points.

Luca Gimenez has seven goals and Michael Gamble owns six for the high-powered Wake Forest offense, which boast 37 goals this year. That total ranks 15th nationally.