Lots of new faces for UVa

Last season was a disappointing one for the Virginia men’s soccer team. UVa finished 12-8-2 (1-5-2 in the ACC) and lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to West Virginia. That marked the program’s earliest exit from the Big Dance since 1996.

The Cavaliers had some extremely bad luck with injuries. Numerous players were out of the lineup down the stretch, including Yannick Reyering, the team’s leading scorer who suffered a torn ACL in a late-season loss at Maryland.

“Nobody wants to hear [excuses],” said Virginia coach George Gelnovatch, “but those things that happened haven’t happened to me in 13 years. It was one thing after another.”

Tonight, Virginia opens its season at home against St. Johns.

“We played them last year and they have a lot of the same personnel,” said Gelnovatch, alluding to his team’s 1-0 win in Charlottesville. “We know what to expect from that, but they also know about us, too.

“I think it should be a well-paced, exciting game.”

One of Gelnovatch’s challenges heading into this campaign will be finding a way to replace the scoring punch of Reyering, who is now the place-kicker for the Virginia football team .

One player who will be relied heavily on is junior Ross LaBauex. As a sophomore last season, the Chicago native tallied seven goals and four assists.

“When we needed goals, Yannick was there for us,” LaBauex said. “I think not just me, but a lot of guys need to contribute.”

Virginia will be looking for a bounce-back year from junior Jonathan Villanueva. The forward was one of the most heralded players in the nation coming out of the Texas high school ranks two years ago. Villanueva had a strong first year — he was named to the ACC All-Freshman Team – but his production dipped last season when he only scored two goals.

“He had a pretty good spring,” Gelnovatch said. “I know that he and we were a little disappointed with his fall. He’s going to try and use this opportunity to be as good as he was his first year.”

Veterans Matt Mitchell and Neil Barlow are other players Gelnovatch will look to get scoring from, along with Chris Agorsor, a highly touted freshman who was named Gatorade national high school player of the year.

“He’s a super talent,” Gelnovatch said, “but at the same time I’ve been doing this long enough to know that when you’re first-year guy in the ACC, it’s not the easiest thing. We don’t want to put too much on him. We want to let him ease into things.”

The biggest question marks for Virginia are on the defensive end. Mainstays Zola Short and Matt Williams are gone. Who will replace them is completely up in the air.

Robby Rogers, Karter Smith, T.J. Cyrus, Hunter Jumper, Howard Turk, Shawn Barry and Mike Volk are some of the names in the hat.

Volk, who played at Rutgers last season, is one of three transfers on the team. Matt Weiler (Kentucky) and Jordan Evans (Richmond) are the others.

“We wanted instant experience and maturity for our team,” Gelnovatch said. “We were actually looking for transfer kids this year.

“All three of them have good chances of being in the lineup. We recruited these kids out of high school and know them pretty well. We like them and know what they’re capable of.”

Meanwhile, in goal, sophomore Dan Louisignau beat out junior Mike Giallombardo, but Gelnovatch said that could change on a game-by-game basis.

LaBauex believes the team is anxious to rid themselves of the bitter feeling that it experienced last year when it barely qualified for the NCAA Tournament.

“[It] was tough after having gone to the Final Four my first year,” he said. “It was kind of disappointing. I think everyone wants to get back to where we are and compete for an ACC championship and maybe a national championship as well.

“I think the biggest question mark is, ‘Where is Virginia soccer right now?’ We come from such a rich tradition. Are we going to be able to get back to our winning ways or are we going to crumble? We really need to make sure we come into the season focused and prepared because if we don’t things may not go our way this year.”

Virginia returns only six starters and will have nine first-years on its roster. Gelnovatch, entering his 13th year at the helm, can’t recall having ever coached a younger squad.

“We have the pieces,” Gelnovatch said. “That’s probably the most comforting thing to me, but the experience and us trying to figure out the pieces is going to take a while.

“We’re going to have to be patient. We want to win along the way, but at the same time we have to realize how young we are.”