The Virginia men's soccer team defeated the Liberty Flames Friday night at Klöckner Stadium to maintain their undefeated status in the all-time series with Liberty and bring their season record to 8-6.
Freshman midfielder Ian Holder and junior forward Mike Littlefield scored the two Cavalier goals in the 2-1 victory.
While the Cavaliers did control the first half, the Flames put significant pressure on the Cavalier offense.
"Liberty came out and threw everything in the kitchen sink in the first 25-30 minutes," coach George Gelnovatch said. "They pressured us and they really expended a lot of energy. The result was it was difficult for us to string some passes together."
Another factor was the significant lineup changes, Gelnovatch said. He started five freshmen and played with three defenders in the back instead of four because of the absence of senior defender Matt Oliver due to injury.
The new defensive lineup was successful, however, in keeping Liberty to only two shots in the first half.
The Cavalier offense had six shots in the first half, but didn't manage to score until the 40th minute of the game.
Holder headed the ball past the Liberty keeper off a cross from junior midfield John Hartman. It was Holder's first career goal.
"My best player on the field was Ian Holder, who had his first start tonight," Gelnovatch said.
The goal also was crucial for the Cavaliers, given their struggles with comeback wins this season.
"It has been in our history this season that if we get scored on first we have a tough time winning games," sophomore midfielder Joe Vide said.
Gelnovatch agreed that scoring first was essential.
"The real kicker was getting that goal at the end of the half," Gelnovatch said. "I think it helped us in terms of our confidence, and it deflated them a little bit."
Virginia maintained its momentum coming out of halftime, scoring a goal less than two minutes after the whistle blew. The second goal also was scored off a header, this time from Littlefield, who was assisted by freshman midfielder Will Hall. Littlefield has been consistent in his scoring preference this season, with all three of his goals coming from headers.
"I knew that if Will Hall put that ball where he wanted [Littlefield] was going to score," Gelnovatch said. "You could tell he was on his toes, knew where he wanted to go."
Littlefield deflected credit toward his teammates for the assist.
"My teammates have confidence in me and keep sending me balls, so I guess it's just a knack that I have," Littlefield said.
Littlefield's goal ended up being the game-winner as the Cavaliers maintained pressure on the Flames. Liberty's only goal came on a penalty kick in the 77th minute.
The Cavaliers will travel to face UNC-Greensboro tomorrow and look to secure their first road victory.
"Playing away is always tough," Littlefield said. "It's a huge game for us. We have the NCAA tournament on the line, and we obviously don't want to be the first team at U.Va. that hasn't been able to go."
Gelnovatch agreed that it would be a tough game.
"They're a good team," he said. "One of the things we have going for us is that they play Duke Friday, NC State Sunday and us Tuesday. So hopefully they'll be a little banged up and tired, but we have to go in there and treat it like any other game."
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