The No. 12 Cavaliers look to continue their winning ways at home to open the season, facing off against Hofstra Thursday at 6 p.m.
Virginia (1-0-0) comes off an impressive 3-2 double overtime victory against a tough opponent in Villanova. The home opener saw the Cavaliers start slow, giving up an early goal in the seventh minute before taking command of the offense en route to a hefty shots advantage.
Villanova (0-2-0) was able to take advantage of a pressed Virginia offense, scoring on the break to pick up their tying goal in the second half. The Cavaliers need to maintain their aggressive nature of play that allowed them to get numerous shots, to better control the corner kick total and to prevent Hofstra’s (1-1-0) counter-attack.
“The quality of the game was great, and I give Villanova a lot of credit for that,” Coach George Gelnovatch said. “I think we created chances, scored three goals...I think we deserved three goals in the game. Now we got to try to figure out a way to not give up easy goals.”
Hofstra is looking to bounce back after a tough Monday night loss to No. 6 Maryland — falling to 0-2. The Pride want to get back to sound all around play, after an early own goal placed the team in a hole it could not dig itself out of. A win against the Cavaliers could restore the squad’s confidence that began to form with an opening victory against Penn State.
“Every team that comes in here, especially non-conference — this is their biggest opportunity of the season to rack up a lot of points in the RPI,” Virginia senior goalkeeper Jeff Caldwell said. “They wanna come in here and take a win for us because that would define their year and probably punch them a ticket to the NCAA tournament. We didn’t drop a game at home last year and we’d like to continue to have that approach in the non-conference [schedule].”
Both teams met last October in Charlottesville, with Virginia narrowly squeezing out the 1-0 victory. Neither team controlled the game one way or the other, and it took a late 78th-minute goal from then-sophomore forward Edward Opoku to break the 0-0 tie.
The Cavaliers have a favorable schedule to start the season, with all of their first five games at Klöckner Stadium. It is vital that the team use the opportunity not only to pick up wins, but also to develop chemistry and pick up extra practice and rest to start off fresh and prepared.
“Especially early on, if you can get a couple game in sequence at home and get some momentum, that’s the idea — to generate some wins and some enthusiasm in the group,” Gelnovatch said.
Following Thursday’s contest, the team will continue its streak of games at Klöckner Stadium with a 7 p.m. Labor Day contest against UNC-Wilmington.
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