The Virginia men’s soccer team’s first homestand should be seen as nothing less than promising, despite ending on a down note.
The young squad, which was picked to finish fifth in the ACC, is already on its way to proving prognosticators wrong by splitting two games against ranked opponents in gut-wrenching fashion. The Cavaliers beat No. 22 California (1-2-0) in their home-opener Friday, 2-1, before falling in the final moments of overtime last night against No. 11 UCLA (1-1-1), 1-0.
The Cavaliers (1-2-0) started nine underclassmen Friday night, but still showed remarkable resilience to hold off highly-ranked California in a hard-fought, back-and-forth affair. A well-placed header by freshman defender Zach Carroll in the 84th minute sealed the victory for Virginia and sent the more than 2,015 spectators at Klöckner Stadium into a frenzy.
“A win is always good for the spirits,” senior forward Will Bates said. “That’s a big win. Cal is a good team. We played hard and were lucky enough to come away with the win.”
Just seconds into the game the Golden Bears set a physical tone as a hard foul earned California one of its four yellow cards. Virginia patiently withstood the early aggression, however, and made it to the halftime break deadlocked at zero.
The Cavaliers came out with newfound inspiration after the break. Two minutes into the second period, freshman midfielder Marcus Salandy-Defour capped a skillful run down the left wing with a service to the foot of Bates.
Bates, who came off the bench to make his much-anticipated season debut after suffering a season-ending knee injury last season, then made a strong turn while simultaneously boxing out a defender. Bates nimbly touched the ball across the box to sophomore forward Ryan Zinkhan, who ripped a shot past the keeper from 10 yards out for his first goal of the season to give Virginia the lead.
Ten minutes later, California sophomore midfielder Seth Casiple — the 2011 Pac-12 Freshman of the year — found sophomore forward Stefano Bonomo behind the Cavalier defense with a pass in the air. Bonomo then made a nifty back-heel touch to change direction and beat Virginia sophomore goalkeeper Spencer LaCivita to even the contest in the 57th minute.
After the equalizer, the Golden Bears began to take control of possession and the pace of the game. LaCivita, however, refused to be beat again, using five timely saves — including one from point blank range in the 80th minute — to keep Virginia alive.
“It was good for me, I’ve been waiting for a game like this,” LaCivita said. “It’s good to get back in the rhythm, get back into form, and start making saves. It’s big for my confidence. But most of all I just want to help my team win.”
With six minutes remaining in the game, Cavalier freshman midfielder Scott Thomsen served a corner into the box where it was met by the head of a leaping Carroll, who calmly bounced the ball into the back of the net for the goal, giving the Cavaliers the lead for good.
Virginia squared off against another ranked opponent Sunday night, this time facing No. 11 UCLA, who was picked to win the Pac-12. In another physical affair, LaCivita was forced to make two difficult saves within the first 15 minutes as the Bruins kept him alert throughout the contest with 14 total shots.
Virginia struggled to create any type of momentum until sophomore midfielder Chris Somerville found Bates — who again came off the bench to provide a spark — streaking down the right flank in the 38th minute. Bates controlled the ball and fired a shot that ricocheted off the top crossbar and out of bounds.
“Chris played a nice ball, and the defender had stepped a little bit which kept me onside,“ Bates said. “When I hit it, the defender got a touch on it that made it dip a little bit, but it just didn’t dip enough.”
The Cavaliers had several more chances, but could not find the breakthrough. Minutes after Bates’ strike, freshman forward Darius Madison weaved his way into the box and attempted to curve the ball around Bruins freshman goalkeeper Juan Cervantes, but the freshman managed to get a fingertip on the ball for the save. Later, a Virginia free kick with 30 seconds left in the first half nearly found its way into the net off a deflection, but Cervantes made an incredible diving stop to keep the game scoreless at the break.
The second period was marked by a relentless UCLA attack as the Bruins’ frontline pushed the tempo en route to eight shots in the frame. Many of those tries threatened, but ultimately missed their target thanks to some timely defense from Virginia’s backline.
“They’re a good team,” coach George Gelnovatch said. “It wasn’t easy to take the ball off of them. They were strong, they were skillful all over the field [but] … we defended very well in the last third of the field.”
Scoreless after regulation, the game then entered a sudden death overtime period. In the extra session, the Bruins attack continued to force the action in search of a game-winning goal.
With 30 seconds left in the overtime period, a cross that floated into the Cavalier box was jostled around frantically until it fortuitously reached the foot of Bruin junior defender Joe Sofia. With the defense out of position, Sofia buried a wide open shot into the back of the net.
“It was just a tough scenario, a tough flurry,” LaCivita said. “[The ball’s] bouncing around in there, it was pretty chaotic. Unfortunately it fell right to the striker.”
After the impressive showing in both games this weekend, the Cavaliers are confident but by no means content, and they are already looking at this weekend as a learning experience.
“I think we’re going to be able to play soccer against some of the best teams in the country.” Bates said. “We just need to keep going and keep [our aggression] going at all times.”
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