Cavs get back to business

When we last saw the Virginia men’s soccer team, it was on a cold, rain-soaked winter day in Cary, N.C. The Cavaliers had made all the clutch plays in a dramatic penalty-kick win over Akron and were celebrating the program’s first NCAA championship since 1994.

The subsequent glory was sweet.

There were special ceremonies and awards banquets. The team was honored during a men’s basketball game.

But just a few weeks later, it was back to business.

Luckily for Virginia coach George Gelnovatch, that mantra has seemed to carry over into 2010.

Tonight, the defending NCAA champs open up against UAB at Klockner Stadium. The game, which follows the Virginia-Richmond women’s contest, gets underway at approximately 8 p.m.

“I don’t think any of our guys are complacent with winning just one title,” said Virginia sophomore Will Bates. “I’ve heard multiple guys say, ‘Let’s do it again.’

“I think everyone’s real hungry to win another championship. The feeling was so good last year. It’s something you would like to experience again. Whether it would happen, that’s up in the air, but it’s something you’d love to experience again.”

Bates will be one of the second-ranked Cavaliers’ key players. Last season, the Chester native burst onto the college scene. His accolades included being named national freshman of the year by Soccer America and getting selected to the NSCAA All-South Atlantic Region second team, as well as the ACC all-freshman and all-tournament teams.

The 6-foot, 185-pounder scored goals in four straight late-season games, including a hat trick in a key road win at Virginia Tech. He went on to score the game-winning goal in the ACC

championship game against N.C. State (one of a team-high five game-winners on the season). Then, in the second round NCAA tournament win over Bucknell, he notched another hat trick.

Gelnovatch is counting on Bates to take his game up another notch this season.

“I think he’s got a pretty good year of experience, not only just in [regular-season] games, but in some high-level, important games — playoff games, ACC tournament, NCAA, College Cup,” Gelnovatch said. “Our hope is that he’s better.”

While Gelnovatch is hoping that holds true with all of his players, it would be hard, quite frankly, for goalie Diego Restrepo to play much better than he did last season.

Without Restrepo in the fold, UVa might not have been within sniffing distance of the College Cup.

Restrepo stood on his head in a third-round game against Portland, making a series of saves that allowed Virginia to escape with a 1-0 victory.

“Most times, those would have been goals,” said Gelnovatch, recalling Restrepo’s magic. “And that game got us to the next one.”

In the championship game against Akron, the Venezuelan-born Restrepo — who had transferred to UVa from the University of South Florida — stopped a penalty kick to clinch the win.

Restrepo finished 2009 first in the nation in save percentage (89 percent) and second in goals-against average (.30). He set new school records for shutouts in a season (15), consecutive shutouts (11) and scoreless minutes (1176:51).

At season’s end, Restrepo was named to College Soccer News’ All-America first team.

You think Gelnovatch is pleased to have the senior back in the fold?

“He really understands the game,” Gelnovatch said. “It’s like having a quarterback who’s talented, but also can read defenses and organize people.”

While Gelnovatch returns, arguably, two of the top players in the country at their respective positions, he is, believe it or not, looking at the 2010 campaign as somewhat of a rebuilding year. Virginia lost a number of key contributors, including Ross LaBauex, Jonathan Villanueva and Tony Tchani, to either graduation or the MLS.

“Our goals will always be the same — to win an ACC championship and compete for a national championship — but we’re going to be a little different,” Gelnovatch said. “We have some things to figure out. We lost some pretty important pieces and central parts of the midfield.

“I think we have some talented people, some young people who are a little experienced — but that’s the challenge at this point.”

Added Bates: “We definitely lost some great players like Tony Tchani and Ross LaBauex, but I think we also had a lot of young talent that didn’t get to see the field last year and probably would have at many other schools in the nation.

“I think if those guys step up like they’re supposed to, we’ll be fine. We’ve got a lot of young guys who are working really hard.”

Just before tonight’s kickoff, one final homage will be paid to last year’s team — a new NCAA championship flag will be raised at the stadium.

After that, it will be all about trying to get back to this year’s College Cup, which takes place in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Improved weather withstanding, that’s a trip Bates and mates would love to make.

“One of the main things we addressed when we had captains meetings was that we’re going to have a target on our back, whether we’re playing a Tuesday night game or an ACC game on the weekend,” Bates said. “Everybody’s going to be gunning for us and want to take us down. With that said, where we took nights off last year and didn’t have our best games — we’re not going to be able to do that this year.”

Throw-ins

The first 1,500 fans in attendance at the UAB match will receive a men’s soccer NCAA championship sticker. ... Tonight is also “Camp Reunion Night.” Fans wearing their Virginia men’s soccer 2010 camp T-shirt can receive a ticket at the group rate.