The 2014 Men’s College Cup has come and gone, but the tournament revealed a few truths worth drilling into. Let’s take a look at five things we learned from a fascinating weekend of soccer that Virginia ultimately conquered for its seventh national championship.
Defense still wins championships
At least in terms of proactive soccer, UCLA probably should’ve won the national title. College soccer doesn’t keep possession metrics, but if it did UCLA would’ve been dominant, maybe even up to 70 percent. After the game, UCLA midfielder Leo Stolz compared it to the 2012 Champions League final. Bayern Munich dominated the game, only to watch Chelsea score a late goal and pip the result in penalties. So it went with Virginia, which at times deployed a seven-man back line in transition to keep the Bruins out of the net.
