Resilience and breakout. These are the two words that best encompass the 11th-ranked Virginia men’s soccer team’s two weekend victories over fall reading days.
Tasked with an ACC matchup against Louisville (4-4-3, 0-1-3 ACC) in adverse conditions, followed shortly thereafter by a game against Portland (2-6-2), the Cavaliers (7-1-2, 2-1-1 ACC) had to dig deeper than they had thus far this season to salvage two wins as they head towards the home stretch.
On Friday, after the game was moved up to a 1 p.m. start time to combat the impending conditions from Hurricane Joaquin, the Cavaliers struggled through rain and wind — that intensified throughout the game — which was fitting for the extraordinary nature of play in the ACC contest.
The Cavaliers struck first, in the 32nd minute, when redshirt junior Marcus Salandy-Defour — who was playing in his first game since 2013 — knocked in a pass from freshman forward Edward Opoku. Louisville evened the tally in the second half — in the 60th minute — when junior midfielder Romilio Hernandez curled a shot past sophomore goalkeeper Jeff Caldwell from 35 yards out.
In the 74th minute, however, another Cavaliers player got on the board for the first time this season. Junior defender Patrick Foss — who is known for his speed and left-footed dexterity — curled in a free kick from 40 yards out that, at the time, was the goal of the season for the Cavaliers.
After Cardinals junior forward Ethan Vanacore-Decker headed a ball in with just over two minutes remaining, the Cavaliers looked to be heading for overtime in the treacherous Klöckner stadium conditions.
Then Foss stepped up to a free kick from the Cavaliers side of midfield — with just 1:34 remaining — and launched a left-footed prayer that somehow eluded the Cardinals goalkeeper, getting over his head and into the back of the net, securing an improbable, seemingly unreal Virginia 3-2 victory.
On Monday, the team and Cavaliers fans were likely looking forward to a less taxing, easier contest against a Portland Pilots team that was travelling across the country and had five losses coming into the contest. For the first 45 minutes, it looked as if Virginia would get its wish as it went up 2-0.
Once again, like Friday, Foss, Salandy-Defour and Opoku were integral to the team’s success. In the 17th minute, Foss sent a ball to junior forward Sam Hayward, who found Opoku in the center of the box for an easy finish to secure his first college goal.
Just eight minutes later, Foss played a beautiful deep ball to Salandy-Defour, finishing with his knee for his second goal of the season, cementing his position in the starting XI and bolstering his confidence after his hiatus.
Unfortunately for the Cavaliers, the challenges of two games in four days and the lack of depth due to nine players being suspended for violating team rules took its toll as they looked flat in the second half, ceding two goals in eight minutes from the 65th to 73rd minutes.
Like Friday, the Cavaliers looked to be heading to overtime but, once again, escaped with the win behind the play of an unlikely contributor. With just 50 seconds remaining, freshman forward Simeon Okoro corralled a cross from Foss that was redirected by sophomore defender Wesley Suggs and finished near post for his first career goal, on just his second shot, in his first game ever in a Cavalier uniform.
With Boston College on Friday, Virginia will use this coming week to regroup, relax and refocus as the push towards the ACC and NCAA tournaments begins to heat up. Game time from Newton, Massachusetts is set for 7 p.m.
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