No. 6 Louisville, after its first five games of the season, had not conceded a goal. It reached 72 minutes into its sixth game of the season still without having surrendered.
Then Virginia sophomore forward Luke Burns came along and wrecked the streak.
Burns galloped onto a loose ball, a teammate skittering to clear the way before him, and pounded home a half-volley Saturday in the nighttime glow of Mark & Cindy Lynn Stadium. The goal gave the Cavaliers (4-1-1, 1-0-1 ACC) a 1-0 win over the Cardinals (5-1-0, 1-1-0 ACC), an outlook-shifting result from a match that could have tipped either way.
“We needed those points,” Burns said. “And it feels good to win, because away games for ACC are tough.”
Burns has, despite playing in every game this season, never lasted longer than 27 minutes and contributed only one assist. Saturday he entered in the 65th minute, for a shift of typical length. Eight minutes later, he stood roaring by the corner flag, ensconced by teammates.
His goal marked the team’s second consecutive result against a top-10 foe. Virginia left it even later a week ago, scoring in the 79th minute for a 2-2 draw at No. 8 Virginia Tech. It was three points rather than one, this time, against a team with a smaller number next to its name.
Only a couple weeks ago, the season just seven days old, the Cavaliers trudged off a field somewhere in the suburban sprawl of Northern Virginia. George Mason had thrashed them, 4-1.
Now look at a team with a new outlook, at the top of a slowly calcifying ACC table, with four points from two away games in the nation’s toughest league. Maybe it will get no easier from here, with No. 4 Wake Forest and No. 21 North Carolina awaiting over the next two weeks.
But it will get no harder, either, and those two games will be at home. Virginia has the crucial building block.
“Starting off the ACC schedule with two consecutive top-10 results on the road is a really difficult task,” Virginia Coach George Gelnovatch said. “To get four points off those teams is a huge achievement for us.”
Virginia will confront the rest of its schedule bolstered by two additions. Seniors Nick Dang and Reese Miller, relegated to sneakers and the sideline for the season’s first five games, returned Saturday from injury.
Dang started and sustained the entire 90 minutes as the right-side center back in Virginia’s 3-5-2 formation. He looked a little slow at the beginning, a little off the pace, tapping his chest and swiping at the air after one early Louisville opportunity.
But he delivered a vintage performance in the second half, one of the ones that landed him on last season’s All-ACC second team. He erased two big chances, sliding in like he does, even as he grows accustomed to the tactical experiment that placed Dang and grad student Sebastian Pop sandwiching freshman Zachary Ehrenpreis in a triple-center-back setup.
Miller’s time on the field came with more symbolism in his return from last season’s sudden knee injury, a step, a crumple, a cry, an instant diagnosis to anyone who watches this, and indeed any, sport. A year later, to the day, he was back, subbed on in the 30th minute. He played 24 minutes in all.
Virginia will hope the cameo proves a launchpad for a return to his pre-injury form. Miller led the team in scoring last year before going down with injury. The opponent during the injury game? Wake Forest. Next for Virginia? No. 4 Wake Forest.
Saturday’s victory makes the tilt less daunting for Virginia. Louisville, which skyrocketed into the rankings after dethroning then-No. 1 Stanford a week ago, peppered the visitors with shots after the goal.
Louisville sophomore forward Michael Lee whipped in hopeful corners, five in the second half. Louisville fired 14 shots in the half, four of them burrowing through the thicket to reach goal.
Virginia graduate goalkeeper Casper Mols stood equal to everything. His first big save arrived with the game still tied, as Louisville junior midfielder Bilal Camara snuck through and forced a big palm from Mols.
The biggest save came right after the goal, another Camara shot, Mols at full stretch, his reaching lower hand tipping the ball onto the crossbar. Barely.
The margins will be just as tight Friday, when No. 4 Wake Forest visits Virginia at 7 p.m. Now almost at full strength — just missing junior midfielder Brendan Lambe, roughly midway through his initial recovery timeline — Virginia is primed to tackle the usual gauntlet of conference play.
“We are still getting better and getting guys back on the field with Reese Miller and Nick Dang,” Gelnovatch said. “And now we have a nice home stretch to look forward to.”
Read More
Relentless ground game stampedes the Tribe, Cavaliers dominate on U.Va. Strong Day
By Ben McNiff | 14 hours agoVirginia's offense registered 700 total yards, a single-game program record.
‘Nothing great is accomplished alone’: Virginia Athletics unveils Olympic Sports Center
By Xander Tilock | 17 hours ago“This is a tumultuous time, as alluded to [by the speakers at the podium] today in college athletics,” Miller said.
Building Coach Andres Pedroso’s ‘perfect’ tennis player
By Thomas Baxter | 22 hours agoIf Pedroso were to, just for a day, play the role of college tennis’s Doctor Frankenstein, exactly what would he build?
