Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 4, 1993 TAG: 9312040067
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DAVIDSON, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
Junior forward Nate Friends had three goals by halftime Friday and the Cavaliers cruised past Princeton 3-1 before a crowd of 10,306 at Davidson College's Richardson Field.
Virginia (21-3) will play for its third consecutive national championship when it meets South Carolina (16-3-4) at 1:30 p.m. Sunday. The Gamecocks defeated Cal State-Fullerton 1-0 in Friday afternoon's second semifinal.
There had been skeptics when Virginia coach Bruce Arena said there was no pressure on the Cavaliers, but it was Princeton (13-5) that experienced the jitters in its first trip to soccer's final four.
The game was slightly more than three minutes old when A.J. Wood kicked the ball ahead to Friends, who let Princeton goalie Rob Pawloski come off his line and then chipped the ball over his head and into the net.
It was the first assist of the season for Wood, who was credited with assist No. 2 when Pawloski stopped his shot with 10 minutes, 49 seconds left in the half but couldn't stop Friends on the rebound.
It was at the same site that Friends scored the winning goal in last year's championship game, but he had never scored three goals in a college game until he converted again with 3:45 left in the half.
"On the first chance, I was pretty nervous," Friends said. "I was telling myself, `Don't blow it.' After the last one, I was thinking, `I can't believe I've got three goals,' but I definitely wanted four."
Friends' three goals came on four shots in the first half. He took three more shots in the second half, including a header from close range with less than four minutes remaining.
"I could have had five goals, maybe six," Friends said. "I missed the header only because I was tired. I'd settle for another game-winning goal Sunday."
Friends moved into a share of the team lead for goals with 10, even though he missed seven games during the regular season with a compound fracture of his left wrist. He wears a cast during games.
Wood missed 14 games with a sprained knee suffered in the first game of the season, but the Cavaliers have not lost in eight games since his return to the starting lineup.
"I had a big decision about four weeks ago," said Wood, a junior forward. "The question was: Was it worth coming back after missing 15 games? What made it easy was knowing we had a chance to get here again."
Wood, who scored two goals in UVa's 3-0 quarterfinal victory over Wisconsin, had three shots in each half Friday but had to be content with the assists.
"Today was Nate's day," he said.
Princeton cut its deficit on a goal by Jacob Dowden with 33:28 remaining, "but I didn't feel we had enough left to push them," said Bob Bradley, the Tigers' coach.
"Obviously, in some ways I think the occasion was a bit much for us. We were very nervous, and when you're nervous and not working well as a team, [the Cavaliers] can really punish you."
Virginia outshot Princeton 16-10 and could afford to play the final 18:10 without All-America midfielder Claudio Reyna, who suffered cramps but should be fine Sunday.
"I thought Claudio played a great game," Arena said. "Maybe he didn't have a goal or an assist, but he controlled the show."
All-America defender Clint Peay sat out the game to rest a strained hamstring suffered against Wisconsin. Peay could have played, if necessary, but Arena wanted to give him an extra two days to heal if UVa won.
"We felt going in that this could be a 4-2 game," Arena said. "Once we got the three-goal cushion, we knew, even if they got another goal, that we would still get plenty of chances."
by CNB