The bad taste in Virginia’s mouth from Thursday’s 4-1 loss at George Mason, if it was still lingering at the start of Monday’s game against American, disappeared after just 10 minutes. That’s when senior midfielder Umberto Pelà, running onto a floated ball from junior forward Marcos Dos Santos, headed in the opening goal after a masterful setup.
“It's nice to get one,” Pela said of his first goal of the season. “I think the most important part that boosts my confidence is controlling the controllable, the things that really make a performance important.”
The lone goal was the difference-maker in a 1-0 win for the Cavaliers (3-1-0, 0-0-0 ACC) over the Eagles (0-3-1, 0-0-0 Patriot League) at Klöckner Stadium. The result boosted Virginia’s series record to 19-4-1.
Still reeling from the loss to the Patriots, the Cavaliers came out firing.
“A lot of teams, in these out-of-conference games, it's their biggest game of the year, and we've got to be ready for it,” Coach George Gelnovatch said. “I thought we did a really good job of that immediately, taking control of the game with our possession and breaking them down.”
Elegance was the story of the first half as Virginia operated in harmony to create a plethora of chances. Things became easier when American sophomore forward Patryk Rojek received his second yellow card in the 23rd minute, forcing his team to play with a man down and cede even more possession.
The Cavaliers were forced to tweak their starting 11 without freshman defender Zachary Ehrenpreis and junior midfielder Brendan Lambe. Ehrenpreis picked up a red card Thursday, and Lambe went down in the same game. Gelnovatch said Lambe, who appeared on the sideline in crutches, is three or four weeks from returning.
Stepping up to the occasion in his first start was freshman midfielder Sami Oulouheu, who applied pressure and lacerated the American defense countless times. He tallied five of Virginia’s season-high 22 shots, four of them on target. His play sparked a jolt among the Klöckner crowd throughout the match.
On the flip side, the Cavaliers’ stifling defense continued its streak of holding opponents scoreless at home. The Eagles took only five shots on the game, with only one being on goal. It was quite the turnaround from last game.
“One of our lofty goals is not conceding goals,” Gelnovatch said. “And we have a number in mind that we want to stay below. Last game, we used a lot of that margin, so we were focused on making sure we got a shutout today.”
Firing on all cylinders but not exactly with the goals to show for it, Virginia hogged 71 percent of the possession. The performance was promising for Gelnovatch, even as he searched for the best combinations to get things to tick.
“A lot of these early games are still trying to figure yourself out a little bit,” Gelnovatch said. Trying what formation of what works, what doesn't work, and moving different players around and trying different players.”
The win is important for the Cavaliers as they enter the grueling test of ACC play. It will begin Friday in Blacksburg against Virginia Tech at 7 p.m.
Last year’s clash resulted in a 2-1 Virginia victory, the beginning of an eventual five-game winning streak.
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