It was a classic ACC soccer tournament matchup -- No. 1 Wake Forest versus 11th-ranked Virginia. But when the final whistle blew, the Cavaliers finished on top 1-0, ending the Deacons undefeated season and shattering the team's ACC Championship hopes.

The lone goal came in the 30th minute when Alecko Eskandarian, the ACC Player of the Year, got behind the defense and crossed the ball into the six-yard box where it deflected off a Deacon defender into the goal.

"Alecko came through down our left side, got in behind our backs, and served the ball in," junior goalkeeper William Hesmer said. "It's just unfortunate one of our defenders slid in there and it hit off the bottom of his foot and went inside the post."

The goal ended a 428-minute shut-out streak by the Deacon defense, and was the first time all season the Deacon offense was held scoreless.

"I just felt like we were unlucky," Head Coach Jay Vidovich said. "We played well, but we just didn't get the pay off we needed."

Virginia locked down defensively after the goal, limiting the Deacons to five shots on the evening. Only two of those shots required goalkeeper David Comfort to make saves.

"We couldn't find the flow of the game," Hesmer said. "We battled but couldn't get through their defense."

The Deacons were equally staunch defensively, limiting Virginia to only five shots. None required Hesmer to make a save. Their best opportunity came in the 33rd minute when Ryan Gibbs put a header just wide of the goal.

The best opportunity for the Deacs to tie the match came in the 64th minute when senior Bobby Gehring put a long shot just wide. The team threatened as time wound down, but never got a dangerous shot off.

"It was a war out there and sometimes it's not easy," Vidovich said. "The longer the game went on the more we asserted ourselves though."

The Virginia team in the tournament was stronger than the team the Deacs beat 2-1 during the regular season. The Cavaliers played that game Sept. 14 without three of their best players ¯ Eskandarian, due to suspension, Kenny Arena and forward Gibbs.

"They have a strong defense and a good offensive tandem with Eskandarian and Gibbs," Vidovich said. "They are a very opportunistic team."

Virginia had won eight straight headed into the tournament and improved to 15-5-0. With the win, they moved into the tournament finals for the 13th time and third time in a row.

They faced Maryland Nov. 17 in the title game, but lost 3-0. Abe Thompson scored all three Terrapin goals, securing the ACC title for his team and the tournament MVP title for himself.

The Deacons are the only the sixth No. 1 seed in the tournament's 16-year history that has lost in the semifinal game. The team moves to 14-1-4 on the season with the loss.

"Losing is something this team is just not about," Vidovich said.

Despite the loss, the Deacs received the top seed to the 2002 NCAA Men's Tournament when brackets were announced Nov. 18. The seed assures the team a first round bye in the field of 48.

The St. John's Red Storm, who battled the Demon Deacons to a 1-1, 2OT draw on Sept. 21, and the eventual ACC Tournament Champions Maryland Terrapins earned the No. 4 and No. 2 seeds, respectively. The Deacons beat the Terps 3-0 in their meeting on Sept. 27.

Virginia, despite their loss to Maryland in the ACC Championship game, still garnered a No. 6 seed in the tournament.

They will host a second-round contest on Wed., Nov. 27 at 6 p.m. at Spry Stadium against the winner of the Old Dominion-Richmond first round game.

They played and beat both teams earlier this season on the road with a 2-1 win over the ODU Monarchs Sept. 7 and a 2-0 win over the Richmond Spiders Sept. 18.

Of the 18 teams the Deacs played this season, 13 were selected to the tournament.

They posted a record of 8-1-4 against those teams, which included Old Dominion, Richmond, South Carolina, North Carolina, Maryland, Duke, Virginia twice, Akron, St. Louis, St. John's, William & Mary and Clemson.

The Deacs only loss came to Virginia, while their four ties against NCAA Tournament teams were with St. John's, St. Louis, North Carolina and Clemson.

The team will enter the NCAA tournament with a renewed sense of urgency. "Obviously we've got to refocus," Hesmer said. "We missed out on this one, but we have another to worry about now."