NCAA SOCCER : Virginia Gets a Lot of Help From Its Friends, 2-0

The Virginia men’s soccer team had Friends in high places Sunday, and the Cavaliers ascended to new heights in college soccer.

Junior forward Nate Friends scored two goals, on a first-half header and a second-half midair volley, to lift Virginia to a 2-0 victory over South Carolina in the NCAA championship game before 10,549 at Davidson College.

The Cavaliers (22-3) become the first Division I team to win three consecutive national titles.

It was the culmination of the most prolific individual Final Four performance since the NCAA went to that format--semifinals and championship games at one site--in 1987.

Friends, who made the team as a walk-on two years ago, also did all of the scoring in a 3-0 semifinal victory over Princeton and scored all five of the Cavaliers’ goals at Davidson. He had only seven goals all season.

“I feel when I go up, the only person who can stop me is the keeper,” said Friends, who played all season with a cast on his left wrist. “Whenever I’m in the air, I feel I can win it.”

With 5 minutes 6 seconds remaining in the first half, Friends angled in from the far post on Mike Fisher’s corner kick, out-jumped defender Greg King and sent a header past goalie David Turner, who had shut out Cal State Fullerton in the semifinals.

After Virginia goalie Jeff Causey and fullback Brandon Pollard turned away two strong, late-game scoring opportunities by the Gamecocks (16-4-4), Friends scored with 4:01 to play.

Fisher lofted an indirect free kick from the left side of the penalty box to Friends, who somehow slipped by the defense on the right side and remained onside. Friends jumped to meet the waist-high pass and redirected a right-footed shot past Turner, who got a hand on the ball but couldn’t stop it.

“We got some great performances from a lot of players,” said Virginia Coach Bruce Arena, who, making good on a promise, jumped into nearby Lake Norman after the victory.”

While the Virginia dynasty continues--the Cavaliers also won the 1989 national title--the Claudio Reyna era probably is over.

Reyna, a junior midfielder who is considered the best college player in the nation, is expected to join the U.S national team in Mission Viejo for a tryout this winter. He said he will probably leave college early to play professionally in Spain or France after next summer’s World Cup.