Cavaliers score season-high goal total in rout of Bucknell

Freshman forward Will Bates scored three times during yesterday’s matchup against Bucknell. The newcomer leads the team with 10 goals this season. Photo by Bennett Sorbo.

Entering yesterday’s match, if there was one thing about which you could criticize the Virginia men’s soccer team, it was its inability to score goals; the No. 2 Cavaliers ranked 106th out of 203 Division 1 teams in scoring. All doubts about their offensive prowess were cast aside yesterday afternoon, however, as the Cavaliers dismantled Bucknell 5-0 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Klöckner Stadium.

Virginia (15-3-3) sealed the game in the first half. Playing before a packed home crowd of 2,279, the ACC champion Cavaliers jumped out to an insurmountable 4-0 lead by halftime. The total marked the most goals Virginia had scored in a game all year.

“Just to get a win is great,” Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. “We’re flowing with confidence coming off the ACC Tournament.”

Virginia defeated a hot Bucknell (17-6-0) squad that entered the match boasting a school-record win total. Despite the lopsided score, the Cavaliers led the Bison only 7-5 in the shots-on-goal category, and Bucknell actually led Virginia 9-1 in corner kicks.

Sophomore midfielder Tony Tchani was instrumental in the early offensive explosion, scoring one goal and assisting two others. It all began in the eighth minute, when Tchani slid a pass into the middle of the box to freshman forward Will Bates. Bates one-timed his shot past sophomore Bucknell goalkeeper Tommy Caso for an easy goal, his first of two in the half. It marked Tchani’s first assist of the season.

“If we score early it kind of knocks them back a bit,” Bates said. “It’s hard to play when you go down one early. So that one early definitely helped us relax and start playing better soccer.”

Tchani instigated another goal in the 28th minute. Dribbling down the left flank, he booted a deft pass to sophomore defender Hunter Jumper, who struck a low right-footed shot from the edge of the box toward the near post for his first goal of the season.

Only two minutes later, senior midfielder Neil Barlow dished a pass in the box to sophomore defender Shawn Barry, who dribbled past a defender and was taken to the ground, prompting a penalty kick. Tchani slotted his shot to the low right corner of the goal to give the Cavaliers a 3-0 lead.

With nine minutes to play in the half, senior midfielder Jordan Evans hit a cross to Bates in the middle of the box. After having his initial shot deflected, Bates fought for the rebound and put away his 10th goal of the season.

Although Virginia dictated the tempo of the opening stanza, Bucknell then countered with four shots of its own. Virginia junior goalkeeper Diego Restrepo — who already ranked second in the nation with a 0.336 goals-against average prior to yesterday’s game — thwarted the Bison’s attempts time and again, making one save after another. Perhaps his most critical stop came in the fourth minute, when Bucknell nearly jumped out to an early lead thanks to a blast from six yards out by sophomore midfielder Ryan Sappington. Restrepo’s cat-like reaction deprived Sappington of a goal, as his dive to the left allowed him to knock the ball away from danger.

“That save is what Diego has been giving us in big games,” Gelnovatch said. “When he makes that kind of save, maybe one a game, that’s the kind of save we’ve been getting from Diego all year in big games to keep us in it when it’s 1-0 or 0-0. I think that’s been one of the big differences for us in the back.”

Restrepo’s five saves secured his ninth consecutive shutout, and extended his single-season school record total to 13. In the 55th minute of play, Restrepo broke the program’s record for scoreless minutes, formerly held by Cavalier great Tony Meola since 1988. The team has now played 927 minutes without surrendering a goal.

“Tony Meola, I remember as a kid, I wanted to be Tony Meola,” Restrepo said. “So it’s a great honor to be able to go above him. But it’s all teamwork; it’s all the team in front of me. I’m happy to be here.”

Bates completed the first hat trick of his career with a third goal in the 50th minute. Jumper sent a long pass to a breaking Bates, who chipped the bouncing ball over the keeper’s head with ease. Bates appeared to be offside on the play, but the referee did not make the call.

With the win, the Cavaliers — who were one of 16 teams to receive a first-round bye — avenged last year’s 2-0 second-round loss to Connecticut at Klöckner Stadium. This postseason marks Virginia’s 29th consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, the longest active streak in the country.

“I told our guys, great result; we managed the game very, very well,” Gelnovatch said. “We’re gonna put this one behind us and get ready for the next one now.”

Virginia will face Portland (12-5-5) — which defeated N.C. State 2-1 yesterday — Sunday at Klöockner Stadium in the third round. The Pilots will seek to avenge their 3-0 defeat at the hands of the Cavaliers in the season opener.