The corner of the field, the one down there by the home bench, is basically sacred ground at Klöckner Stadium. It is the place where home players warm up, the area players’ families congregate after a game, and it has staged many a goal celebration, substitutes pouring off the bench, players arrowing over from the field, them all meeting in a euphoric confluence near the corner flag.
Senior midfielder Albin Gashi missed that feeling.
Scoring on the other side of the field? As he did in the first half of No. 17 Virginia’s season opener Thursday against San Diego State? Amazing, Gashi said, his smile evidence enough.
“It’s the best feeling, being back at Klöckner, season-opener, and scoring,” he said.
But there was something better. He amended the statement a minute later.
“Celebrating down there?” Gashi said, gesturing to the hallowed patch of earth in the corner. “That’s the best feeling.”
That is where Gashi and everyone else went after the goal that sealed it. Down to that corner, blue jerseys and yellow pinnies and warmup jackets mixing together, to celebrate the final tally in a 2-0 victory for the Cavaliers (1-0-0, 0-0-0 ACC) against the Aztecs (0-1-0, 0-0-0 WAC).
Gashi’s opening goal came in the 21st minute. Graduate defender Jesus de Vicente’s finisher arrived 61 increasingly fraught minutes later, in the 82nd, off a cutback from sophomore midfielder Luke Burns.
“Gosh, we were knocking on the door,” Coach George Gelnovatch said. “Our expected goals has to be close to four. We needed that second goal. Otherwise it just gets hairy down the stretch.”
So the final few minutes leaked away with little drama. Virginia, returning a granite core and bolstered by the nation’s No. 6 recruiting class, opened a promising campaign with a solid win.
“This team is a tricky, tricky team to play, and it’s a good win,” Gelnovatch said. “It’s a real good win.”
The Aztecs, the reigning WAC regular-season champions, struggled to generate anything going forward. They lived from set piece to set piece, their only chance from the run of play the result of a suspect back pass.
Virginia expected to face the five-man back line, plain and unabashed, its opponent deployed. It planned, Gashi said, to use two midfielders, junior Brendan Lambe and senior Umberto Pelà, to pivot up the field and distort that line.
“We knew this was gonna be a tricky game,” Gelnovatch said. “They're very organized. Physical, as you can see. Direct. But can cause all sorts of problems. Did ourselves a favor by scoring in the first half. That was really important.”
Early in the second half, things turned easier for Virginia. San Diego State dropped a man in the 50th minute, a video review delivering a red card to senior defender Baptiste Boit.
Virginia’s opportunities flowed from then on. Freshman Nick Simmonds, starting at forward, smashed a header against the crossbar. Marcos Dos Santos snatched his face and vented his frustration after stubbing an inviting cross. Lambe ripped a half-volley that forced a big save from San Diego State senior goalkeeper Eddy Vargas.
But it took Virginia a long time to fully commandeer the game. The second half? A parade of yellow cards. Gelnovatch got one. The Virginia bench got one. Seven cards in all in the second half, five of them in the last 18 minutes.
“The game got a little weird there,” Gelnovatch said.
It helps to have experience in that situation, and four graduate students and two seniors in the starting lineup certainly counts. Even in the scratchiest moments, Virginia never seemed frazzled. It dominated the game without conducting it, outshooting San Diego State 18-2 yet only managing to sustain possession in the attacking half in the final 10 minutes, working the ball around, finding gaps.
“There was a little stretch where it got disjointed,” Gelnovatch said. “Even I got screaming a little bit. And then we got into our rhythm, got into our rhythm, got into our rhythm, and got the goal.”
Virginia played without two of its best returning players, senior defenders Nick Dang and Reese Miller. Dang strained his adductor this summer, and Miller is still working back from the knee injury that ended his season last year.
Virginia’s depth, though, rendered their absences unimportant, at least for a day. Graduate goalkeeper Casper Mols, a Kentucky transfer, saved San Diego State’s only shot on goal, stretching to palm away a free kick in the second half.
“They got their free kick,” Gashi said. “What a save by Casper. Saved us there.”
That kept Virginia ahead, clearing the way for the goal at the end. De Vicente steered the shot home, helped by a deflection, leaving the white-clad visitors motionless, finally toppled.
De Vicente’s running celebration angled at first toward the bench. He was, after all, a program newcomer, in his first regular-season home game. But soon enough he swerved toward the corner flag, like so many before him.
He ended up in the right spot. Virginia, beginning with Sunday's 7 p.m. home game against Stetson, will hope to alight there plenty more times this season.
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