ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 9, 1995 TAG: 9512100009
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
When Duke looked across the field Friday, the Blue Devils didn't see the four-time defending NCAA men's soccer champions.
This was merely a team that Duke faces on a regular basis - three times this year - and one the Blue Devils have beaten as often as not.
Granted, the stakes were a little bit higher Friday, when 11th-ranked Duke snapped Virginia's 33-game unbeaten streak and ended the Cavaliers' championship run, 3-2, at University of Richmond Stadium.
``The mystery is not there in our rivalry,'' said Duke coach John Rennie, who is 6-5-2 against Virginia since 1988. ``We know each other very well, which gives you an edge psychologically.
``Certainly, we weren't awed by the mystique or by their record or anything. We play them all the time. We were playing for the right to play for the national championship.''
The Blue Devils (16-6-1) will have that opportunity Sunday, when they meet No.7 Wisconsin (19-4-1) at 1:30 p.m. The Badgers survived a defensive struggle with Portland, 1-0, in the first semifinal Friday.
``I said [Thursday] at the press conference this would not be a boring game,'' Rennie said, ``and today we lived up to that billing.''
Top-ranked Virginia (21-1-2) did not go down without a fight. UVa fell behind 2-0 midway through the first half and later trailed 3-1 but Duke couldn't feel comfortable for a moment.
``I think [the Cavaliers] again demonstrated why they're the best team in college soccer,'' said UVa coach Bruce Arena in his matter-of-fact manner. ``They're skillful. They attack. They have a lot of character.
``Soccer is a funny game and sometimes the ball doesn't bounce the right way. In all fairness, we've had some luck in other games. Today, it wasn't there.''
The Cavaliers outshot Duke 15-7, but the Blue Devils made the most of their chances. After Virginia had cut the deficit to 2-1, senior defender Craig Jeidy gave the Blue Devils the insurance they would need with 19:16 remaining.
Jeidy, the lone North Carolinian on the Blue Devils' roster, had scored one goal this season and just two in his career when he took a pass from freshman Jay Heaps and booted it past UVa goalie Yuri Sagatov.
``There's just a lot of motivation in playing them,'' Jeidy said. ``You always want to knock off No.1. We've been playing second fiddle to them ever since I've been at school at Duke.''
The winning goal started with an indirect kick that was rolled to Brian Kelly, whose 20-foot blast was stopped by a leaping Sagatov. However, Sagatov failed to clear the ball and Heaps kicked it out front to Jeidy.
``What can you say?'' Arena said. ``If Yuri had it to do over, he would have pushed it over the end line [resulting in a Duke corner kick], but our defeat wasn't the result of poor goaltending.''
Nevertheless, Sagatov had not been tested in UVa's previous two NCAA tournament games. He had not allowed a goal in victories over Hartwick (4-0) and Brown (4-1), but wasn't required to make many difficult saves.
``He wasn't tested a whole lot today either,'' said Arena, who then tried to deflect some of the blame from his sophomore goalie. ``You can't ignore the fact that we may have given up three goals, but we had a chance to score four or five.''
Matt Leonard, who had come off the bench with 12:37 remaining, took a cross from Scott Vermillion and headed it into the right corner of the net with 11:33 left. UVa's last chance came with 34 seconds left, when Tim Prisco's header bounced high over the net.
``We probably gave [the Blue Devils] a little too much respect early in the game,'' said Arena when asked the familiarity question. ``I don't think we came out hard enough. We sat back a little bit.''
Arena, linked with the new Major League Soccer franchise in Washington, had no comment when asked if he had coached his last game at Virginia. He did say the future looks bright for UVa, which returns players who scored 80 of the Cavaliers' 83 goals.
``I think Virginia deserves an awful lot of credit for the way they've played and the success they've had,'' Rennie said. ``They gave our sport the attention and exposure it would not have gotten from different champions.
``Who knows? They might come back and win five more. I certainly don't think it's over for them.''
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Virginia defender Scott Vermillion (20) keeps theby CNBball away from Duke's Craig Jeidy during Friday's NCAA semifinal
game in Richmond. The Blue Devils defeated the Cavaliers 3-2 and
will play Wisconsin for the title. color.