For the No. 16 Virginia men’s soccer team, Tuesday night can’t come fast enough. The Cavaliers (3-2-2, 0-2-1 ACC) are looking to put last weekend a distant memory as they loss Saturday night to ACC rival Louisville in a 6-1.
The Cavaliers will get an opportunity to get back on track when Cornell visits Charlottesville Tuesday night for a nonconference matchup at Klöckner Stadium.
The match against the Big Red (0-6-2, 0-0 IVY) is an important one, as Virginia is eager to get back onto the field to try and rebound after a tough loss.
Cavalier head coach George Gelnovatch talked about how the quick turnaround can be a good thing for Virginia.
“I think anytime you lose, but you know, lose in the fashion that we did, getting back up on the horse is a good thing, you know, so I think we’re all looking forward to the short turnaround and being at home,” Gelnovatch said.
Freshman forward and midfielder Lucas Mendes, when asked about the quick turnaround, echoed his coach’s sentiments.
“Yeah after a tough loss, of course, we’re eager to play and I think we’re all fired up and ready to play Cornell,” Mendes said.
After suffering a lopsided loss this past Saturday, Virginia will look to start out strong and take command of the match against Cornell early. Gelnovatch expects his team to be fired up and come out of the gates with a lot of energy.
However, he talked about how the Cavaliers need to be careful not to come out with the wrong type of energy, and avoid playing a reckless and careless brand of soccer.
“I do expect a response, but the response isn’t running around like a chicken without a head and fouling the crap out of people, it’s not what I’m looking for, you know,” Gelnovatch said.
When asked about what Virginia needs to improve on ahead of their match against Cornell, Gelnovatch was quick to point out that the Cavaliers need to continue to grow and mature. Another issue he took with the way they played against the Cardinals, was the way in which they defended set pieces.
“I’m looking for a growth, maturity in our team in defending set pieces for example,” Gelnovatch said. “Three goals were scored on set pieces, so that’s a maturity, concentration standpoint and a couple other things that we’ve talked about, but it’s a maturity thing and this team lacks a little bit of that right now.”
When asked what the Cavaliers will need to do in order to play well against Cornell, Mendes agreed with Gelnovatch in that Virginia will need to improve their defense against set pieces.
“Just to make sure we defend set pieces properly and to attack with everything we have,” Mendes said.
Gelnovatch also expressed how although Virginia is a talented team, some of the areas in which the team needs to improve in were highlighted due to the fashion in which they lost to Louisville. The attention brought to these struggles this past weekend has Gelnovatch expecting Virginia to play smarter and better.
“It’s [Virginia] a very talented team, it’s a team that’s an attacking team and [a] goal scoring team, but along with that comes a maturity that we’ve got to be better at,” Gelnovatch said. “The one thing from that game is when you get six goals put on you, it gets your attention.”
In Tuesday night’s match against Cornell, Mendes believes the Cavaliers will be able to play more offensively, and capitalize on opportunities.
“I mean, I think we expect them to sit back a little bit and we’ll be on the offensive most of the time, but we just have to be sharp and have to come out ready to play,” Mendes said.
The match against Cornell is scheduled to take place at Klöckner Stadium Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
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