Former Virginia Cavaliers men's soccer standout defender Hunter Jumper was selected as the No. 28 pick of the 2012 MLS SuperDraft today by Chicago Fire. Jumper becomes the first player to be drafted since 2010, when midfielder Tony Tchani was the No. 2 pick overall by New York Red Bulls, and Ross LaBauex went in the second round, No. 23 overall to Colorado Rapids. Forward Brian Ownby, who also participated in the 2012 Player Combine, was not drafted today.

At 6-foot-2, Jumper is complimented for his physicality, and many thought that Jumper was perhaps the best left tackle in this year's draft. He has the ability to hit the long ball with both distance and accuracy. Though he was injured at the Players Combine, asking to be taken out of Game 3, he should be slotted in as a great backup option for Chicago.

Texas native Jumper started in 17 games this season and had 79 starts during his career at Virginia. Of the 17, 15 starts were at left back, while two were at holding midfield. He had two goals and four assists this season, including two assists and a goal off a free kick in the ACC Quarterfinal victory over Wake Forest.

He was named to the ACC All-Tournament team for the third straight year, was named to the second-team All-NSCAA South Atlantic Region, and was also a Capital One Academic All-District first team honoree. He was one of 30 national nominees for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award.

The six-foot Virginia native Ownby had 12 starts this season, the first six at midfield and the last six at forward, replacing the injured Will Bates. He had six goals and two assists this season, earning him second-team All-ACC and third-team All-NSCAA South Atlantic Region honors. He had missed three games earlier this season due to injury. Ownby was also one of 21 players that represented the United States at the 2009 FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Egypt.

Unfortunately for Ownby, injuries also plagued his college career, and he was unable to find the back of the net at the combine.

Video highlights from both players at the 2012 MLS Player Combine follow the jump.

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Virginia sophomore winger Brian "Cobi" Span signed a contract today with Djurgarden IF of Sweden's top flight, Allsvenkan. While at Virginia, Span was second on the team in points with 19 this season, earning him Second Team All-ACC honors. His two goals against Wake Forest in the ACC Quarterfinals, including the game winning goal with just 20 seconds left in the second overtime, helped earn him a spot in the All-ACC Tournament team.

Fox Soccer's Big Board rates Span as the No. 7 overall prospect in this year's MLS Draft. Still, Span was not offered a Generation adidas deal by MLS. Generation adidas players typically earn a much higher salary than the league minimum -- many speculate that not locking down the Generation adidas deal ultimately sealed the deal for Span to look abroad. Virginia's last Generation adidas player was midfielder Tony Tchani, who was selected second overall in the 2010 MLS Draft.

Djurgarden finished the 2010-2011 season with a 11-17-8 record. The club last won the Allsvenskan league in 2005 -- their seventh Allsvenskan title. Span's contract extends through the end of the 2013-2014 season. This season begins on March 31.

Fun fact: Span was named after Cobi Jones, who has appeared in more U.S. National Team games than any other player in history and is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

After three straight NCAA games where they didn't give up a single goal, the Virginia Women's Soccer team today found themselves on the wrong side of a shutout against the Florida State Seminoles. 

The 'Noles have been a bit of a thorn in the side of the Cavaliers this season. It took an overtime performance in the regular season for the 'Hoos to take them down. Then in the ACC tournament, FSU came out on top 2-1 and ended up winning the conference championship. Earlier today, the Seminoles prevailed 3-0 to advance to the College Cup.

Virginia actually outshot Florida State 15-13 on the day, but had trouble getting the shots on goal (6 SOG for Virginia to 8 for FSU). Florida State held a 7-4 advantage in corner kicks on the day. 

Three different players - Ines Jaurena, Tiffany McCarty and Dagny Brynjarsdottir (wow, what a name) - scored for the Seminoles. Jaurena got the 'Noles up 1-0 in the 34th minute and the score remained there - well within reach of Virginia - for most of the game. But in the 71st minute, Brynjarsdottir doubled FSU's lead and four minutes later McCarty added what had to be a dagger in the heart of the Cavaliers.

Virginia finishes the season 17-5-2 with its first trip to the quarterfinals in six years. There is a lot of young talent on this team, so you can expect them to be very competitive against next season.

Congratulations to the entire team for a very good season!

While most of the Virginia sports world was still trying to sort out what exactly happened last night in Tallahassee, the Virginia Women's Soccer team had business to take care of. They're in the hunt for a national title. And today, that challenge came in the form of the Virginia Tech Hokies in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament.

One month ago to the day, the Cavaliers handed the Hokies their worst loss of the season, a 4-0 pummeling that was televised by Fox Sports.Or at least, it was their worst loss. Now its just tied for their worst loss, as Virginia again blanked the Hokies 4-0 en route to a quarterfinal appearance. It is the first time in six years that the Cavaliers have reached the quarterfinals.

Senior Lauren Alwine got the scoring going in the 28th minute as Morgan Brian took an Erica Hollenberg cross and found Alwine in front of the net. Junior Julia Roberts scored just two minutes later as she notched her fourth goal on a direct kick this season. You really should watch Roberts take those direct kicks. It's impressive and almost always has a shot at being a goal.

Brian finished off the scoring in the first half in the 31st minute when she took a Molly Menchel cross and put it on net. She would also finish off the scoring overall when she scored her 11th goal of the season in the 72nd minute. Hollenberg sent Alwine's cross to Brian who found twine for the second time in the game.

Once again, the Cavaliers were dominant in the shots category, holding a 22-5 advantage in that statistic. They also held a 6-3 advantage in corner kicks. It was the Cavaliers' 14th shutout of the season. They have yet to allow a goal in the NCAA tournament.

Virginia will now travel to Tallahassee next weekend to take on Florida State. Date and time is still to be determined. The Cavaliers beat the Seminoles 4-3 in overtime back on October 8th and then lost 1-2 on November 4th in the ACC tournament. Florida State went on to win the ACC Championship.

The Virginia Women's Soccer team turned in one of the more dominating performances of the season last night as they beat the visiting Washington State Cougars 3-0 on a frigid night at Klöckner Stadium.

Lauren Alwine, Gloria Douglas and Caroline Miller each notched goals against the usually stout Cougar defense, while Morgan Brian, Julia Roberts, Alwine, Molly Menchel and Danielle Colaprico all tallied assists. 

Lauren Alwine scored the first goal of the game, beating the keeper to a loose ball in front of the net. Roberts had sent a free kick to Brian, who used a header to get the ball in position for Alwine to make the play.

The second goal of the game was actually quite reminiscent of the first. Alwine served a cross from right to left in front of the goal. Colaprico tapped the ball toward the goal and Douglas beat the keeper to the ball and deposited it in the left side of the net.

Golden Girl Miller finished off the scoring on the night in the 58th minute. Menchel sent a cross from the left corner that found Miller waiting at the near post. A quick shuffle helper her get past the defender and her shot slid by the goalie and into the right side of the net.

If you want to understand how badly the Cavaliers dominated Washington State, you just have to look at one statistic: Shots. Virginia held a 22-1 advantage in that category. That's right, the Cougars only managed one shot the entire game and that one shot, which came in the waning moments of the second half with Virginia already well in control of the game, wasn't even on goal. 

Virginia next takes to the pitch on Sunday (tomorrow) at 1pm against in-state foe Virginia Tech. During the regular season, the Cavaliers beat the Hokies 4-0 at Klöckner Stadium. Ironically, that game was exactly one month before the upcoming game. 

A promising year for the UVA men's soccer team came to a sudden conclusion last night at Klockner Stadium when the Cavaliers fell to the Blue Hens of Delaware 1-0 in double overtime.  The game was an outbracket matchup of the 48-team NCAA tournament, which Virginia won just two short years ago.  While the Hoos were the favorites playing at home, the match was an evenly played one that ended only when one side cashed in on its opportunity, an event that took 106 minutes.

Though the game was scoreless after regulation and an overtime period, there was plenty of action.  A slow first half developed into an open second half, with the Hoos launching 9 of their 17 shots; they also had a prime chance or two late in the game, and a shot on goal by Felipe Liberos in the first 10 minute overtime period.  The hole left by the loss of leading scorer Will Bates to an injury was evident, as Virginia lacked a go-to guy to convert those chances.  After a free kick, Delaware's John Dineen found a header in the box and headed it into the goal to end the game with 4 minutes to play before a shootout.

Before I launch into a diatribe on the parity of college soccer, the Blue Hens are no pushovers.  Delaware's win improves their record to 13-5-4; though they face inferior competition, they came in red hot after bowling through the CAA tournament to nab an NCAA autobid.  But it is true that any team could beat another on any given night.  This was something we saw all season long and in an exciting ACC tournament.  The problem is the winning team is usually the hot team, and it was Delaware last night.  

Virginia's season ends at 12-8-1.  Congratulations and thank you to Mike Volk, Brian Ownby, Hunter Jumper, Ari Dimas, Greg Monaco, and Felipe Liberos, all who played their last game as Cavaliers last night.  UVA looks toward a long offseason ahead.  When asked by VirginiaSports about next year's plans, coach George Gelnovatch said, "The one thing I can promise you is we are going to work harder than any team in the country and that is going to start in January."

Delaware will advance to take on #13 UCLA in the round of 36 of a tournament that features 3 ACC teams in its top 5 seeds.  

The Virginia Women's Soccer team hosted Long Island University in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last night at Klöckner Stadium. It wasn't much of a contest. The final score was 2-0 in favor of the Cavaliers, but the game wasn't anywhere near that close.

So dominant was the home team that the visiting Blackbirds could muster only a single shot in the first half and that shot was from about 25 yards away and had no chance of going in. The final tally of shots was 19-4 in favor of the Cavaliers. There was a similar ratio of corner kicks, with Virginia holding a 5-1 advantage, though all six corner kicks came in the second half when there was no scoring.

It took Virginia only four minutes to gain the lead. Julia Roberts took a free kick from just over 20 yards and curved it into the left half of the net. It looked to me as if the goalie may have been screened by the wall of players between her and Roberts, as she hardly moved for the ball as it came towards her.

Freshman phenom Morgan Brian added the final goal of the game just two minutes before halftime. She took a deflected cross from Amber Fry and put it just inside the right post. 

Virginia will face either Washington State or Kentucky next Friday (probably at 7pm again). The Cougars and Wildcats play today at 7pm. As the seeded team, the Cavaliers will be the hosts of that game. 

The men's soccer team got the postseason started off right, prevailing in double overtime in a 4-3 thriller over Wake Forest.  The quarterfinal, hosted at Klockner Stadium, pitted the 4th-seeded Cavs against the 5th-seeded Demon Deacons in a rematch of UVA's 4-3 October loss in Winston-Salem.  

The matchup was similarly high scoring, as Wake Forest notched its first goal just 2 minutes into the evening.  While the Hoos failed to convert in the first half, they outshot their opponents 7-5; a 1-0 final score did not seem likely.  Sure enough, Hunter Jumper led a three goal barrage in the second half, started by drilling a free kick from 25 yards out.  Jumper assisted on the next two goals, picked up by ACC Player of the Week Brian Ownby and Brian "Cobi" Span.  The lead disappeared after two quick goals from Luca Gimenez with 10 minutes remaining in the match.

The first overtime period finished scoreless, and the second threatened to do the same, which would have resulted in penalty kicks, everyone's least favorite way to end a sporting event.  With just 20 seconds to go in the period, Cobi slipped a bouncing corner kick past the keeper, resulting in the golden goal and a fourth consecutive ACC tournament win over Wake Forest.

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