Cavs aim to avoid Tiger trap

Many Virginia soccer fans got a little nervous after UVa went 0-3 in the preseason and didn’t look very good doing it. But it’s clear that the mad science that coach George Gelnovatch conducted is paying dividends through the first few weeks of the regular season.

Last Friday, Virginia upset then-No. 2 Wake Forest on the road. On Tuesday night, UVa fended off visiting George Washington.

Tonight, the No. 11 Wahoos host winless Clemson (0-5-1, 0-2-0 ACC) in a matchup that has all the makings of a “trap game.”

“I don’t think they have any super-dangerous guy on their team who has like five or seven goals, but they’re clearly better than their record,” said Gelnovatch, who notched his 200th career win on Tuesday. “When an ACC team comes in here that hasn’t won yet, you worry a little bit.

“They’re a dangerous team and we have to take them very seriously and make sure we’re not caught off guard looking at their record. They’re going to be hungry and coming in here looking for their first win.”

Virginia (5-1-0, 1-1-0), led by goalie Diego Restrepo, has been solid in the back in the early going. Restrepo has two shutouts and has allowed just three goals in six games.

Up front, UVa has gotten production from unexpected places.

Junior Mike Volk, a transfer from Rutgers, scored the game-winner off a restart versus Clemson. In the win over George Washington, Neil Barlow scored the golden goal in the 92nd minute. Barlow, who also had the assist on Volk’s game-winner, was named ACC player of the week.

Gelnovatch said the manner in which his team beat Wake was what he was most excited about.

“It wasn’t one of those wins where you score one goal and get two shots, and the other team gets 20,” he said. “Statistically, we outshot them, had more corners. We deserved to win the game. It wasn’t one of those fluky kinds of things.

“I think the way we did it was just as important as the result.”

One of the impressive things about Virginia’s success of late is the fact that it has come without sophomore Brian Ownby, one of the team’s top offensive weapons. Ownby is playing for the U.S. Under-20 team in the World Cup and won’t be back with UVa until sometime in October.

With or without Ownby, Gelnovatch realizes his squad has a lot of room for growth.

“We haven’t figured everything out yet by any stretch of the imagination,” he said. “There are a lot of positive things developing that I feel can be even better down the road. As a head coach, if your team can win along the way as you’re trying to figure things out, that’s huge. I feel like that’s where we are.”