If you don’t feel for Blair Gavin, you’re getting coal in your stocking.

 

I was thoroughly impressed with Wake Forest’s style of play. We’d still be talking about the performances of Austin da Luz and Corben Bone if it weren’t for two plays from Jonathan Villanueva that set up both UVa goals to steal the show.

 

I would’ve loved to see Wake Forest against Akron in perfect conditions somewhere. I feel like that could’ve produced the best matchup.

 

I don’t always put a lot of stock in overall series records, but with Virginia’s win over Wake Forest makes them 33-6-6 all-time. Even with the dominant Bruce Arena years, that is extremely lopsided for as good as Wake Forest has been for the last decade. That’s stunning to me. I don’t want to say vodoo needs to be involved, but there seems to be something there between the two teams.

 

OK, Akron vs. UNC wasn’t real pretty. That’s ok. That happens in knockout play. Akron controlled the play but couldn’t seem to get much out of it in the final third. That surprised me. UNC nearly stole the game on several occasions down a man, but Akron goes through on PK’s. Looked to me as if Brooks Haggerty moved to his left early, giving a tell to Blair Gavin on the deciding PK. Tough way to go home for the Tar Heels, but a good effort. 

 

I know Ben Speas cleared it off the line, but I think that David Meves would’ve made the save on the Jordan Graye header. That’s just me.

 

During the women’s finals weekend, ESPN had the helpful percentage of possession graphic. I’m not sure why this wasn’t available for the men, but I thought it could’ve been a helpful stat.

 

It seemed like the crowd for the weekend was very good. I was a little worried on Friday when I saw the crowd at the beginning of the Wake-UVa game because it seemed pretty thin. However, the crowd slowly piled in and it appeared to be packed for most of the rest of the evening. Even with the North Carolina teams home on Sunday, the television angle revealed pretty full stands. And you could hear the chanting and singing from fans giving it a nice atmosphere. (At least it appeared that way on TV – and that counts for something because perception is reality.)

 

I enjoyed the broadcast team of JP Dellacamra and Kyle Martino. Dellacamra is obviously a pro’s pro, and I thought Martino was solid. I liked that it wasn’t a stuffy broadcast – they could kind of chat and keep it light when appropriate. Martino’s insight was spot on, particularly on Friday night as he was keen to all of the personnel and tactical shifts made by the teams, and relayed them to the audience.

 

When a broadcaster has a personal connection to the team he is a covering, often times that broadcaster can respond in two ways: 1) treat the team he has a connection with kid gloves, or 2) be overly critical of that team to prove that there is no bias. Martino criticized UVa when appropriate, but also gave the ‘Hoos credit when it was called for. However, in the final, he was only outlining the keys to victory for Virginia and not really doing the same for Akron. He was truly sympathetic to Gavin, which was good to hear.

 

But, he couldn’t leave well enough alone. With just seconds left in the broadcat, he had a parting shot about how he was neutral all day, but now he was heading to Charlottesville to have a burger or something at a local joint. He was neutral all weekend, but at the last minute took off his mask to reveal it was all an act. Could’ve done without that.

 

I know this is way way way nitpicky, and I’m only writing this because I’m sure many of you felt the same way. It kind of nagged at me that Dellacamra kept saying that Akron’s record was still perfect after their PK triumph. I know it’s a technicality, and I know they’re still unbeaten, but it was still a tie. And if he said it once, I probably would’ve let it pass, but he said it too many times for me to ignore. He came on Sunday and corrected himself, so maybe it wasn’t as nitpicky as I thought.

 

One of the things I walk away from this weekend is how close these teams were. Never mind the records or seeds, there was not a lot of difference in the talent on the teams. That led to three overtime games, plenty of drama, and no margin for error. The final was dramatic and exciting, and will provide a great memory for the 2009 season.