BLACKSBURG -- Early this decade, the Virginia Tech men's soccer team had a paltry budget, a lousy field, a handful of scholarships, and, not surprisingly, had never been to the NCAA tournament.

Tech now spends a lot more on men's soccer, so it has more scholarships and better facilities. And an embrace of foreign recruits by sixth-year coach Oliver Weiss yielded one of the NCAA's best players.

Oh, and one other thing. The Hokies are one win away from college soccer's final four.

"When I first came in, it would be really lofty to think that I would be in the elite eight," said midfielder Ben Nason, a fifth-year senior from Stafford.

After being picked to finish tied for seventh in the preseason ACC coaches' poll, the Hokies reeled off a 15-match unbeaten streak and rose to as high as No. 4 in the national coaches' poll. The 11th-seeded Hokies (13-3-5), in the NCAA quarterfinals for the first time, will visit third-seeded Connecticut at 1 p.m today.

"It's real amazing," fifth-year senior Scott Spangler said.

More money

When Tech became an all-sports member of the Big East in 2000, it didn't meet the league's minimum scholarship and staff requirements in men's soccer.

So Tech gradually increased its number of scholarships, going from 4¹₄ in 2000 to the NCAA maximum of 9.9 grants in 2004. Weiss has a scholarship budget of $208,923 this year, compared to the $60,000 that predecessor Jerry Cheynet had in 2001.

Cheynet, who steered the Hokies from 1974-2001, predicted six years ago that the additional scholarships would yield better players and finally get the Hokies into the NCAA tournament, and he was right. The Hokies are in the NCAAs for the fourth time in five years.

Tech gave the program a recruiting budget of $23,000 this year, up from $4,725 in 2001-02. That helps Weiss go overseas to scout foreign recruits, and also enabled his assistants to recruit in Florida this week.

Weiss, 46, also does his own fund-raising, e-mailing ex-players and others for donations. He raises $20,000 to $30,000 a year, which not only gives him additional money for recruiting trips but also paid for the Hokies' exhibition trip to his native Germany last spring.

The school also turned its attention to facilities. The former game field lacked a drainage system, permanent grandstands and even a truly flat playing surface.

"The quality of the field was just absolutely horrendous," Weiss said.

So Tech unveiled a soccer/lacrosse stadium in 2003. The $1 million facility has lights, bathrooms and about 2,000 seats.

"It makes a huge difference," Spangler said.

Two years ago, $1 million was spent to construct an artificial-turf practice field and to improve a grass practice field.

Going abroad

Foreign players have always been important elements of the Hokies under Weiss, who has been unable to attract elite American recruits.

Junior forward Patrick Nyarko of Ghana has led three Tech teams to the NCAAs. He is one of 15 semifinalists for the Hermann Trophy, which goes to the national player of the year. Starting defender Alexander Baden of Germany also is in his third season.

Nyarko has a better supporting cast this year than he had last season. There are three newcomers from Germany -- Georg Zehender, Stefan Hock and goalie Markus Aigner. British newcomer Robert Edmans is an All-ACC second-team pick.

Spangler said this year's squad is the most talented team he has been on. Having so many foreign players enables the Hokies to change their tactics.

"We have different styles to our team; that has other teams confused," said Spangler, a midfielder from Media, Pa. "We switch our style of play in the middle of games, which most teams can't do, but we have the depth to be able to do that.

"Maybe one person has the ability to beat somebody off the dribble, and another person has the ability to ... make runs down the line to get open."

The addition of the four foreign newcomers, as well as the presence of starting defender James Shupp, a Downington, Pa., native who made the ACC all-freshman team, could have made some of the returning players resentful. But they say they're not.

"People really want [to put] the team first," said Nason, an All-ACC second-team pick. "They believe the coach is making the right decisions personnel-wise for each game."

The coach

Moving to the Big East and then the ACC aided the program by putting Tech in strong soccer leagues. The choice of Cheynet's successor wasn't bad, either.

Tech gave Weiss, a former North Carolina assistant, his first head-coaching job in January 2002.

"He's grown and matured as the program has," Nason said. "He's been really, really good this year at managing the personalities. He's incredible at game-planning."

Tech is on the verge of next weekend's final four in Cary, N.C. But with many key players exiting after this season, it remains to be seen if Tech can continue to be a realistic contender for the national title.

"We can be good every year," Weiss said.

Hock, Zehender, Aigner and Edmans will be returning to Europe and won't be back next season, although Edmans hopes to return to Tech as a graduate student in two years.

Nason, Spangler and senior starter Marcus Reed won't be back, either. Most importantly, Tech could lose Nyarko to next month's Major League Soccer draft.

Weiss said he has been getting better American players than he used to, but he doesn't get "superstars." So he will continue to look overseas for players.

"Why I will probably continue to do that heavily is because I see the improvement in my own [American] players," Weiss said. "Ben Nason, Scott Spangler, Charlie Campbell have benefited from being around a player like Patrick Nyarko tremendously ... because in practice you just can't get away with stuff when you have that quality player around.

"The balance of these differences that come out, in culture or attitude or even playing styles, is something I embrace."