The Virginia men's soccer team came into Duke Soccer Stadium Friday night seeking revenge. And UVa got it--in a big way.
The top-ranked Cavaliers (17-0-2) handily defeated fourth-seeded and No. 11 Duke 4-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament semifinal matchup. UVa was looking to make amends for its Oct. 22 contest with the Blue Devils (12-6-1), in which the Cavaliers surrendered two goals in the final 90 seconds of overtime to give Duke a tie.
"It would be impossible in a hundred years for us to blow a game like we did that day," Virginia head coach Bruce Arena said.
"[Revenge] was definitely a motivational factor," UVa midfielder Mike Fisher said.
The Cavaliers, who have won the last four ACC and national titles, were determined not to allow the Blue Devils to dominate the first half as Duke did in the two squads' regular-season matchup. UVa wasted little time in taking control of the game, both offensively and defensively.
Virginia shadowed Duke junior forward Brian Kelly everywhere he went. When Kelly received the ball, there were immediately two Cavaliers on him.
"Last game, we gave [Kelly] too much room," Arena said. "We tried to challenge him more [Friday night]. We tried to be around him a little more."
"[Kelly] is the key to the team," Fisher said. "The key to him is to keep him with his back to the goal."
Not only were the Cavaliers successful in containing Duke's most potent scoring threat, but they also did a fine job of putting away their shots on goal. For the game, UVa registered 15 shots to the Blue Devils' 10, most of which were quality chances. Three of Virginia's four goals came on restarts, which was unusual for a team that doesn't score much off set plays.
"We'll take 'em any way we can get 'em," Arena said.
And get 'em they did. Duke goalkeeper John Barth was under intense pressure the entire game, as UVa relentlessly attacked the Blue Devil defense.
"They were much more aggressive, more physical than in the first game," Duke head coach John Rennie said. "They knew we were tired. They wanted to wear us down."
The Blue Devils' exhaustion after Thursday's win over Wake Forest was evident on Virginia's two first-half goals. At the 26th minute, Duke failed to clear a rebound on a UVa corner kick, and the Cavaliers' Sean Feary had an easy finish with Barth out of net.
Then, at the 39th minute, freshman forward Jay Heaps attempted to clear the ball out of the box, but booted it directly to UVa's Andriy Shapowal. Shapowal, who missed the regular-season contest with Duke due to injury, blasted a shot past Barth from 20 yards out.
In the second half the Blue Devils stepped up their intensity, but it wasn't nearly enough to seriously threaten Virginia. Duke was effective in spurts, with clever runs by Kelly and freshman fullback Evan Whitfield, but could not maintain any offensive continuity.
UVa struck quickly in the 49th minute. On a direct kick from the right side, Fisher served a beautiful ball to the back post, where teammate Billy Walsh was waiting to knock the short header past Barth.
"I was looking for Billy the whole way," Fisher said. "You've got to give him credit."
But Duke rebounded well, and cut the margin back to two less than a minute after Virginia's third goal. After a scramble in the UVa penalty box, a rebound popped out to Heaps, who knocked the ball home for Duke's lone score.
Just for good measure, the Cavaliers added a fourth goal at the 74:48 mark on a Barth miscue. Fisher struck another solid direct kick which Barth deflected, but the freshman goalie couldn't corral the rebound, and UVa's Tim Prisco was in the right place at the right time for the finish.
"They scored on a rebound off a restart," Rennie said. "We didn't handle it particularly well."
"Honestly, I wanted to score as many goals as possible," Fisher said. "They beat us so [often] in the regular season, we really wanted to go out there and beat the stuff out of them."
Both teams were moderately satisfied with their efforts as they look ahead to the NCAA tournament.
"Duke's as tough a team to play against as there is in the country," Arena said. "They go after every ball [and] get a piece of you on every play. Once [we made] Duke come forward, it opened things up."
"The difference in the game was finishing chances," Rennie said. "When you play Virginia, you've got to take advantage of the chances you do get. You really have to finish your opportunities if you're going to stay in the game.
"But we didn't quit. We just didn't finish enough [chances] to get back in it. We didn't come up big often enough."
Rennie said his squad is eagerly awaiting the NCAA tournament and a possible future matchup with the Cavaliers.
"I think we're ready [for the NCAAs]," Rennie said. "I think we're in good shape. [But] if you're going to win a national championship, it's got to go through Virginia."
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