On a frigid Friday night at Klöckner Stadium, the No. 20 Virginia men's soccer team (11-5, 3-3 ACC) upset the No. 5 Maryland Terrapins (12-4, 4-2) 1-0 before a crowd of 2,474 fans. The Cavaliers now are on a five-game winning streak with two non-conference games left before the start of the ACC Tournament.
The game was a defensive battle from beginning to end, with both teams showing a very aggressive style of play. The Cavaliers ended the game with a major advantage in fouls, having 17 to Maryland's nine.
Virginia did not have many scoring opportunities during the first half, but stepped up the offensive pressure during the final 45 minutes. The only goal of the game came in the 64th minute when junior forward Alecko Eskandarian gathered the ball at the top of the 18-yard box and let loose a shot that rocketed past the Maryland keeper and gave the Cavaliers the decisive 1-0 lead.
"Ryan Kelly got into a tackle and got it to me," Eskandarian said. "I put it on my left foot and hit it as hard as I could."
Only 15 minutes after Eskandarian scored his 21st goal of the season, he received a yellow card for a scuffle that occurred in the Maryland 18-yard box. The card requires him to sit during the next game against Pittsburgh on Tuesday because of accumulated yellow cards.
"I'll take a yellow card as long as we beat Maryland," Eskandarian said.
The junior forward knew the importance of this game because it was against a highly ranked team.
"This was huge. Maryland is the No. 5 team in the country and they came into our field trying to be physical with us, but we didn't back down," Eskandarian said.
Virginia Coach George Gelnovatch said he was very pleased with the Cavaliers' performance tonight.
"What our defense did really well was when Maryland beat our pressure, they just dropped back instead of getting caught flat," Gelnovatch said.
"We're gaining our momentum and playing our best soccer at the right time," senior defender Jonathan Cole said.
The Cavaliers have had a tough season so far, losing four games in a row and suffering an emotional overtime loss to Clemson on the road. However, the team has not looked back and has won eight of their last nine games.
"It hasn't been an overnight fix for us, we've been a work in progess," Cole said.
"All the elements that make up good caliber teams were there tonight," Gelnovatch said.
This win was crucial for the Cavaliers, who evened their ACC record at 3-3 before the start of the ACC tournament. It also shows that Virginia will be a tough opponent for any team they face in the upcoming weeks.
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