Six minutes into overtime Tuesday night at Klöckner Stadium, with the score knotted at one, Virginia sophomore midfielder Todd Wharton lofted a corner kick into the UNC-Greensboro penalty box, where the Cavaliers and Spartans jostled for position. As the ball arced through the air, freshman forward Riggs Lennon broke free from the throng, with Virginia’s 10-game unbeaten streak hanging in the balance.
Lennon brought a decisive end to the possibility of a Virginia (8-3-4, 3-2-4 ACC) loss, redirecting Wharton’s delivery into the Spartans’ (8-7-2, 3-1-1 Southern) net. The Cavaliers sprinted from the field to celebrate their 2-1 overtime victory, having eluded defeat yet again. Virginia has now played beyond the 90th minute six times this year, posting two wins and four ties in those extra-time affairs.
“To our credit, we’ve been in a lot of these overtime games before,” coach George Gelnovatch said. “And right from the first whistle in the overtime, I felt like we we’re going to win it because I think we started passing and moving — I had fresh bodies in there — and sure enough we did.”
Virginia toppled previously undefeated No. 2 Notre Dame 2-0 Saturday in South Bend, Ind., and the win catapulted the Cavaliers from No. 23 to No. 15 in this week’s coaches poll. The upset victory punctuated Virginia’s two-month long rebound from early-season adversity — the Cavaliers dropped three of their first four games — but also created the potential for a letdown against the unranked Spartans.
“I was worried about the hangover, coming from a big win, knowing that this UNC-Greensboro team is not a sophisticated team, but a very competent team and hard, athletic and tough all over the field,” Gelnovatch said.
The Cavaliers grabbed the lead in the 13th minute when freshman midfielder Jordan Allen curled a free kick into the Greensboro penalty box, where junior forward Ryan Zinkhan pushed an angled header past Spartan redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Stephen Moffitt for his third goal of the year. Virginia limited Greensboro’s chances at an equalizer, but the physical Spartan defense also kept Virginia from extending its lead. Fouls told the story at halftime, as the Spartans had been whistled for nine to Virginia’s zero.
Spartans senior midfielder Oddur Gudmundsson tied the game in the 69th on a header off a corner from sophomore midfielder Lukas Zarges. The score put Virginia back on the attack.
The Cavaliers appeared to regain the lead in the 80th minute when sophomore forward Darius Madison found Lennon unmanned in front of the Spartan goal. Madison, however, was called offsides. The Virginia faithful booed, but the Cavaliers kept pushing.
“I was upset at first, but Darius told me … ‘Hey, we’re going to get another one,’” Lennon said. “So I knew I just got to keep on working, and I was going to get another chance.”
Virginia closes out the regular season with a pair of home ACC games. The team hosts No. 20 North Carolina this Friday at 7 p.m. and Boston College next Friday, Nov. 8. Though the Cavaliers looked young and inexperienced to start the season, they now appear decidedly composed after an undefeated October.
“The team is consistently evolving,” Gelnovatch said. “You know, Ryan Zinkhan wasn’t in the lineup, [and] now he is. There’s all sorts of those kind of dynamic things that go on within a team where players are emerging, whether it’s a guy coming off the bench or a starting role. So we’ve got a lot of that stuff going on, and it’s all positive.”
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