This is not what they came to see. The 2,989 people arrived at Dail Soccer Stadium to witness No. 2 NC State — undefeated, unbeaten in 10 games, rolling to its best start to a season since 1985 — defeat No. 16 Virginia.
Instead, they witnessed a six-game unbeaten run swallow a 10-game unbeaten run. The Cavaliers (7-1-2, 3-0-2 ACC) scored the game’s only goal in the 20th minute, 12 minutes after a red card enfeebled the Wolfpack (8-1-2, 1-1-2 ACC). That pushed them to second in the conference standings, a point behind No. 3 Stanford, as the conference slate passed its midway point.
Virginia has played five games this season decided by one goal. It has won all of them.
“This is a championship performance and a team performance,” Virginia Coach George Gelnovatch said. “That’s all I have to say. A championship team performance. These are the kind of performances from the team — and individually, but most importantly from the team — that win you big games down the stretch.”
Virginia, in its present run of form, has drawn then-No. 8 Virginia Tech, beaten then-No. 6 Louisville and thrashed then-No. 1 Wake Forest. That latter victory, on Sept. 19 in front of a delirious crowd, marks another blazing performance against a top-two team. But Sunday’s similarities with the 6-3 shellacking end there..
Sunday’s game turned after eight minutes, when NC State junior Tyler Caton, one of the home side’s stalwarts, exited on a red card. The handicapped Wolfpack, scorers of 29 goals in their first 10 games, managed 10 shots and two on target.
Virginia capitalized on the man advantage with its usual suspects. Graduate defender Jesus de Vicente looped in a ball as if it were on a tightrope, and freshman forward Nick Simmonds thundered home a header from above a gaggle and raced off to the corner flag.
The goal counted for Simmonds’ fifth of the season and fourth in conference play, tied for the most in the ACC. Junior Marcos Dos Santos, credited with an assist for shunting the ball to De Vicente before his cross, tallied his seventh assist of the season, putting him one off the nation’s leader.
Simmonds started at forward alongside junior AJ Smith, the first time Virginia has started the hulking pair together. They thus far have played interchangeably rather than complementary.
In goal, graduate student Casper Mols returned after a two-game absence due to injury. He got called on early, after 17 minutes, making a fine reflex stop off a snap header.
He kept his fifth clean sheet of the season, and the team’s sixth. The last two seasons, Virginia has also collected six clean sheets. In the season. This year they reached the number five games into October.
For the first time since 2020, in a 2-0 win over No. 2 Wake Forest, Virginia recorded a road win over a team ranked in the top two. It was its fourth positive result against a top-10 team this season, three of them wins.
Virginia will try to maintain its footing near the ACC’s summit Friday, when it hosts Notre Dame at 7 p.m. at Klöckner Stadium. It will be riding high after fending off NC State for the final 70 minutes.
“They’re really tough to deal with on long throw-ins and corners,” Gelnovatch said. “This was really tough for us to deal with. I’m so proud of our guys.”
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