The No. 9 Virginia men’s soccer team hosted its biggest matchup of the season to date, facing off against No. 7 North Carolina. On a beautiful Friday night at Klöckner Stadium, in front of the biggest crowd of the year, they were unable remain unbeaten against ACC opponents in a 2-1 overtime defeat.
Klöckner had been a great place for the Cavaliers (5-1-1, 1-1-1 ACC) to play all season long, riding a 21-game unbeaten streak going back to 2015. Nothing, however, poses a tougher challenge in NCAA men’s soccer than holding down the North Carolina (8-1-0, 3-0-0 ACC) offense. The Tar Heel attack leads the nation in goal scoring, netting 2.88 per contest.
“You had two teams, right, that had 2.8 goals per game,” Virginia Coach George Gelnovatch said. “At the same time, you could see both teams waiting for the other to make the mistake.”
The first good look for the Cavalier offense came off a corner in the 30th minute, with a great ball in and a near picture perfect flick into the top left corner of the net, but it was wide. The result was a scoreless first half for two of the nation’s top offenses.
Virginia junior forward Edward Opoku was held in check during the contest, coming off his second career ACC Offensive Player of the Week award. Opoku normally stands out on the pitch, placing third in the nation in points per game at 2.4 and tied for second with 1.0 goals per game. North Carolina was able to control possession and prevent him from getting the ball in space.
Virginia freshman midfielder Joe Bell was able to break through, scoring the first goal of his Virginia career in the 53rd minute on a great strike from the top of the box into the top right corner.
The Tar Heels immediately capitalized on a miscommunication in the Cavalier back-line, tying the game up in the 58th minute. North Carolina had two fantastic chances right in front of the net to extend their lead in the 78th minute but could not find the back of the net.
Gelnovatch said fatigue played into his team’s inability to hold the lead after North Carolina’s breakthrough.
“What you saw in overtime was two tired teams,” Gelnovatch said. “It’s going to be … One mistake and one big play, and they jumped on the first one.”
In the 95th minute, Virginia’s unbeaten season came to an end, the result of a strike off the boot of North Carolina sophomore forward Jelani Pieters. The Cavaliers fell 2-1 in their first loss at Klöckner in nearly two years.
“I think you always get a bump — the opposition always turns up the dials after they get scored on,” Gelnovatch said. “Both goals that they scored were good goals … I’ll have to take a look at the film. But you can always take a closer look and say ‘we could have done better at this’ or ‘we could have done better at that,’ but they were well taken goals, and that was a great game.”
A chance for redemption is on the way for Virginia as the team faces Davidson Monday night at 6 p.m.. With this game at Klöckner Stadium being part of the their 12-game home schedule for the season, the Cavaliers look to take advantage of the short break in their ACC schedule before facing off against Notre Dame next Friday.
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