Cavalier Corner is the publication just for UVa sports fans!
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BY WHITELAW REID N THE WALL INSIDE THE VIRGINIA MEN'S soccer locker room this season was something that coaches and players referred to as the "Pyramid of Success." At the bottom of the pyramid: short-term goals, such as maintaining a consistent work ethic, keeping grades up and playing with confidence. Toward the middle: more clearly defined goals, such as beating cer- tain opponents. At the top: winning an NCAA championship. O At several junctures of the 2014 season, the odds seemed poor that Virginia (14-6-3) would have any chance of even sniffing the top of that pyramid. Injuries had robbed the team of its scoring ability and had led to head coach George Gelnovatch adopt- ing a completely new style of play on the fly. But somehow, when all the dust settled on Dec. 14 in Cary, N.C., Virginia had won its seventh NCAA title. Just the season before UVa had come close to win- ning it all, but wound up losing to Maryland 2-1 in the semifinals. The Cavaliers returned the majority of the players from that squad and were fully expecting to take the next step, only to have a string of bad luck hit them. First, rising second-year midfielder Jordan Al- len elected to leave school early for Major League Soccer. Next, third-year forward/midfielder Mar- cus Salandy-Defour suffered a season-ending knee injury. Then there was third-year forward Darius Madison's ankle. There were also a series of nagging injuries to several other players, most notably to fourth-year midfielder Eric Bird. The team co-captain and one of the best players in college soccer — he was on the preseason Hermann Trophy watch list — was the heart and soul of the team, but had a hard time staying healthy. By the midpoint of the season, you wondered if Virginia had enough bodies to field a competitive team, let alone win a national title. A key moment occurred in a home game against James Madison Sept. 30. As the final minutes ticked down, it looked like UVa was going to do something it hadn't done in nearly 10 years: Lose three games in a row. JMU, already up a goal, was pelting redshirt fourth-year goalie Calle Brown with shots, and it seemed like only a matter of time before the Dukes put the game out of reach. But then UVa second-year midfielder Patrick Foss sent a ball across the box. JMU goalie Kyle Morton looked like he had a bead on it, but at the last second it squirted out of his hands and right onto the foot of Madison, who slammed in a shot to tie the game. Less than seven minutes into overtime, Madison headed in a ball from Bird. Just like that, Virginia escaped with a 2-1 victory. "We needed this big time," Madison said after- ward. "Coming off the loss versus Syracuse, we were in a slump and kind of all down. This was a good win, a good spark to our season." The goals were Madison's first two of the season. He had gotten off to a slow start due to the ankle