They play at 7, I'll give my little report around 9:30. On other UVA news, Kyle Martino won MLS Rookie of the Year.
UVA 5, Liberty 2. One of Liberty's 2 was a UVA own goal, not sure who did it though. It happened when a Liberty guy made a shot, Hunter Freeman (#8) made a defensive save, and then it bounced off of one of UVA's guys who were all bunched up. Alecko Eskandarian is now at 17 goals for the season. Joe Vide didn't play, and neither did David Comfort. Brett Mayer-Ashcoff (I think thats hiw name) started and played the entire game. Also I didn't win the trivia contest, AGAIN. I've gone to every game for 4 years, gotten the answer right 95% of the time, and never won. And tonite's question had my name all over it. It was "which of these in-state opponent games had the highest attendance at klockner," and the answer, of COURSE was JMU...UGH.
Own goal or not, it's not a good sign when the Cavs are giving up 2 goals to the likes of Liberty. NC State aside, UVa has the worst D in the ACC and that's not a ticket for success. Hard to believe their D is so bad this year when they have so many players back from last year's record-setting unit. Who'd a thunk they'd miss Marshall Leonard so much! At the rate he's going, he's going to break AJ Wood's school record for goals in a season (23) set in 1994. The Cavs have 6 regular season games left - all at home - plus at least one ACC tournament game and, God-willing, a couple of NCAA games. Barring an injury, I think AJ's record is toast! I was at that game and remember it well. The NCAA quarterfinals, Dec. 4, 1994 in the cold and rain. Despite the weather, it was the best atmosphere I've ever seen for a college soccer game. A LOT of JMU fans made the trek over Afton Mountain and sat (well, stood) on the far side of the stadium and made a lot of noise. UVa won 4-1 but it was close in the first half and the JMU players and fans did themselves proud. If there were more games with crowds and atmostphere like that, college soccer would be in much better shape.
Me, actually. Hunter Freeman's wearing his number pretty well though. I'd say he's possibly the most consistent defender they have right now. He makes a few mistakes every now and then, but not as many as 75% of the rest of the team.
Ugly I went to the game last night and it was the ugliest thing I have seen at Klockner field ever. Liberty was horrid, but UVA matched their unsightly style 98% of the game in the show to play the worst game of the year. The only games this year where UVA have looked anything like the team that ruled and entertained last year were when Vide was in the lineup. Again last night without him, it was jam the ball up front and stay away from the midfield of Kelly, Arena and LeBlanc. I feel for those 3 guys who have had such high hopes placed on their talent from youth soccer days. With the exception of Kelly making a couple runs with decent shots and LeBlanc carrying the ball up the field (only to lose it or have a shot blocked) they were hideous. They give the ball away 4 out of every five times they touched it. ugly, ugly ugly. Did I mention how unbelievably ugly this game was? In addition to the shitty play, I noticed how arrogant and childish some of these guys are. They cursed the Liberty players (who were just as bad), bad mouthed the ref (Freeman was the worst- telling the ref in a loud voice, next to a group of 8 year olds, to wake the **** up you ****) and cried about the calls almost as much as they gave the ball away. As some of you know, I am a huge UVA fan and have loved their style of play for at least the last 5 years. I think that Vide and Solomon should play in the middle together and give Alecko and Gibbs something to work with. Along with a reduction in levels of haughtiness, condescension and all around jack-ass cockiness, this is what UVA needs if it has a chance to put it together this year. And they can certainly do it. Here is just hoping for some better entertainment against Duke on Sunday.
I'm sure UVA will be ready for Duke. I've only seen the Cavs one time this year, and that game was at UNC. They looked lousy against the Heels, that's for sure. The UVA players all seem like they've just taken 16 no-doz tablets right before kickoff. Extremely frantic...no flow whatsoever. Unfortunately, that seems to be the trend in college soccer.
Re: Ugly I didn't hear that, I'm guessing it was during that big mess with Liberty's #10, Pavel Cancura. Yikes. I agree. Vide is definately key, I'm guessing he was hurt or something since he was wearing jeans to the game yesterday -- I hope he'll be back in time for Sunday if this is the case. Solomon is good as long as he isn't trying to score himself, he's bound to be the lousiest finisher I've ever seen. But yeah, they're definately still lacking the flow, the ability to play as a team. The season is little over halfway through, and they're running out of time to shape up, but I have my fingers crossed.