Virginia Opens 2007 ACC Men's Soccer Championship With Win Over NC State

Nov. 13, 2007

CARY, N.C. - The No. 25 Virginia Cavaliers started off the 2007 ACC Men's Soccer Championship Tuesday with an impressive 4-1 victory over NC State at SAS Soccer Park in Cary, N.C. Virginia was led by midfielder Chris Tierney, who scored two of the team's four goals on the day.

"The most important thing to me coming into the game was to win," said Virginia head coach George Gelnovatch. "The second most important thing was to manage minutes and I think we accomplished both. I couldn't ask for more."

The Cavaliers jumped out to an early lead just 2:25 into the first half when sophomore midfielder Jonathan Villanueva netted a Virginia cross to make the score 1-0. The goal was Villanueva's second on the 2007 season. Assisting on the game's first score for Virginia was senior Jeremy Barlow and sophomore Ross LaBauex.

Virginia would extend the lead to two just minutes later when Tierney, a senior from Wellesley, Mass., converted on a penalty kick in the ninth minute for his fifth score of the 2007 season.

For the remainder of the half, the two teams would compete back and forth. At half's end, Virginia had tallied four shots to the Wolfpack's three, and held onto a 2-0 lead.

Virginia would again add to its lead at 61:00 on a goal by sophomore Matt Mitchell, a forward from Tariffville, Conn. After a goal kick from keeper Dan Louisignau cleared midfield, Mitchell gained control of the ball behind the Wolfpack defense and beat the NC State goaltender to the upper left corner. Tierney would later make good on his second PK goal of the day in the game's 66th minute, extending the Cavs' lead to four.

NC State's only score would come on an own goal by Virginia with less than 10 minutes remaining the regulation. Leading the Wolfpack in the game was senior forward El Hadj Cisse, who recorded four of NC State's eight shots, including one shot on goal.

With the loss, the Wolfpack fell to 6-9-3 for the season. "We made some mistakes today, and Virginia is the type of team that will take advantage of those situations and make you pay - and that is exactly what they did today," NC State head coach George Tarantini said.

Virginia now advances to Wednesday's quarterfinals, in which the Cavaliers will take on No. 1 seed Boston College. In the two teams' only regular season matchup this year, the Eagles won a close 2-1 game in Charlottesville, Va.

Semifinal action will continue on Friday, Nov. 16 with games slated at 5:30 and 8 p.m. The championship game will kickoff at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 18. All games are available online through ACCSelect.com, while the championship game will be nationally-televised on Fox Sports Net. The ACC men's soccer awards ceremony will be immediately following the title game.

For complete results, please visit TheACC.com and make sure to check out the 2007 ACC Men's Soccer Championship page.

Quotes:

VIRGINIA

Head Coach George Gelnovatch

On the win against NC State:
"The most important thing to me coming into the game was to win, obviously, so we could advance, and the second most thing was to manage minutes. I think we accomplished both. I couldn't ask for more."

On the quarterfinal matchup against Boston College:
"I have a lot of respect for them, as I do for all of the ACC teams. I feel like, in this year in particular, that one through nine, on a given day, can beat another team. I think you're going to see some interesting stuff going on, not just in our game, but in all the games going on tomorrow. The line is so thin between the teams. Of course, I like our chances, and one of the important things about this game was managing out minutes, which we were able to do, which gives us a better chance."

On how his team is playing:
"We haven't scored four goals in a while. We haven't won in a while. We played two games on the road against Maryland and Wake, and we're battle hardened. We've been on the road for two weeks, so that's made us better and I think you could see that today."

Senior M/D Chris Tierney

On today's game:
"Obviously, it ended up good for us. We came in really motivated, just knowing that we're trying to advance in this tournament, but we're also trying to give ourselves a spot in the NCAA Tournament. We had a do-or-die mentality today, and I think that's really what drove us. I think everyone had one of their best games of the year."

On tomorrow's matchup with top-seeded Boston College:
"Boston College is a great team. We played them at our place earlier this year and lost, but I think that if we play as well as we can, we'll be OK."

On the team's chances in the postseason:
"We've got to take care of ourselves now, considering the game is only tomorrow. We've taken our hits this year, and I think things are on the upswing for us now."

NC STATE

Head Coach George Tarantini
"What a tough difficult game for us, and you can also say the same for the last few games we played down the stretch here. We made some mistakes today, and Virginia is the type of team that will take advantage of those situations and make you pay, and that is exactly what they did today. Today did show us that we have some good, young talent. It was good to get those players some experience, but playing in the ACC Tournament I wish we had all of our guys healthy and playing. I think communication with those guys that are not normally in the lineup did hurt, but they got good game experience and hopefully prepares them for a strong spring season we will be having."

Senior Forward El Hadj Cisse
"I think overall we played good today, but we made some crucial mistakes. We were missing some regular players from the lineup, but those are just the type of things you have to be able to try to overcome. I was pleased with how these younger guys stepped in and played today. Virginia is a very good team, I just wish the outcome could have been closer."