Come tournament time, soccer games are often decided by the smallest of margins. One mistake or one lucky break can often mean a game-winning goal or a game-changing play.
But in AU's second-round clash with Virginia in the NCAA Men's Soccer tournament on Nov. 23, the irony was that it was a Virginia mistake - a mid-hit cross - that turned into Virginia's lucky break - a deceptive cross that fooled AU senior 'keeper Thomas Myers and snuck in the net's top corner for a crucial game-tying goal.
The Cavaliers rallied behind that 53rd-minute strike from midfielder Hunter Freedman, before a 68th minute 30-yard screamer from Virginia midfielder Will Hall pushed Virginia ahead for good, 2-1, securing the Cavaliers' advancement to the third round and ending AU's season.
"The game-winner, that was a beautiful goal," said AU head coach Todd West. "But the one that tied it ... that's a tough goal to live with."
AU ends its season at 15-6-2, and its senior class finished as the only class in AU history to qualify for three NCAA tournaments. No. 4 seed Virginia, meanwhile, now sits at 19-4-0, having beaten No. 13 seed New Mexico last Saturday night in a penalty shootout to advance to the national quarterfinals.
Still, the Eagles could feel unlucky not to at least take Virginia into overtime, especially after drawing first blood in a match that was nearly dead even to that point.
"They're a very good team," said Virginia coach George Glenovatch. "We feel like that team could compete very well in our conference. It wasn't our sharpest game, but it showed a lot about our character. We played against a good team, got a goal down, and found a way to win. That's what you have to do in tournament soccer."
Virgina went a goal down through sophomore midfielder Sal Caccavale. He put the Eagles ahead just two minutes after halftime, coolly finishing off an impressive attack down the right from about 10 yards.
Sophomore midfielder Garth Juckem got free on the right before linking up with junior midfielder Gordon Templeman, who cut a diagonal run into the box. Templeman slotted the ball left to an open Caccavale, who then scored his fifth goal of the season before sprinting to the AU bench to celebrate.
"It was a team goal, the kind of goal we've been scoring all year," West said. "We just needed to make one more play."
Five minutes later, the Cavaliers tied it through Freedman's equalizer, which developed from a right-sided corner kick played short. Freedman, who whipped in several lethal crosses in the first half only for forwards to finish poorly, smacked a cross aiming for the back post. Instead, it dropped just inside.
"I was just trying not to put us in a counter-attack situation," Freedman said. "It was to the back post. A lot of balls were played to the six-(yard-box). I think the keeper was looking for that ball instead."
Several minutes later, Hall came on as a substitute. A few minutes after that, Hall got free in the middle of the park after an initial Virginia surge down the left resulted in a half-clearance from the Eagles. Given space 30 yards from goal, Hall fired his game-winner past Myers, who had little chance, and into the top right corner.
The Eagles, who looked most dangerous from the beginning of the second half up until Hall's goal, could get little going on offense in the final 20 minutes. Their best chance came in the 88th minute, when a scramble resulted in sophomore forward Nathan Baker's off-balance, six-yard effort missing high and wide of the near left post.
AU's six seniors - Myers, defenders Charlie Koniver and Nick Zaron, midfielder Shawn Kuykendall, and forwards David Marut and Sean Albright - were all kept relatively quiet in their final game as Eagles. Of them, only Albright had multiple shots, two, in a game in which AU had 12 total, compared with Virginia's eight. Virginia did lead in shots-on-goal, 5-3.
Kuykendall, who led AU with six goals and nine assists this season, couldn't find a late equalizer, but knew what this senior class, and this year, meant to the program after a disappointing 2003 campaign that had no postseason.
"Last year we had a tough time," said Kuykendall, whose brother Kris and father, Kurt, played at AU, and whose brother J.P. was a freshman midfielder on the team this season. "This year, everyone was fighting for everyone. Even if we'd lost every game this year, I would have held my head high. Obviously, it's been an honor to carry on the tradition with all my family having played here."
Said a choked-up West, pointing to the senior, "I'm certainly going to miss this guy"
