No. 12 seed California had not surrendered a goal in over 350 minutes of play. They had faced 13 successive shots on goal and repelled all of them. Their shutout streak had enveloped a Stanford team ranked No. 7 nationally, as well as highly seeded Duke and Pittsburgh in the early rounds of the ACC Tournament. At No. 12, they were the lowest-seeded team to ever make an ACC Tournament semifinal.
California carried all that momentum into Thursday night’s game at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C., and all the way past a scoreless halftime against No. 1 seed Virginia. But it all started to crumble in the second half when the ball ricocheted off a defender for an own goal.
The own goal began the momentum the Cavaliers (12-1-4, 5-0-3 ACC) needed to best the Golden Bears (8-8-2, 2-5-1 ACC) 2-1.
“The way we reacted in the second half is not easy at this stage,” graduate midfielder Jesus de Vicente said. “When you maybe see the other team having more momentum, to change it is a big response from the team. So always proud of us.”
The moment the opening whistle blasted, the Golden Bears applied relentless pressure. With their defense being their strongest suit, California knew it had to attack from the beginning in order to create opportunities to score. The Cavaliers struggled in transition, surrendering atypical opportunities in the way of wayward passes and three first-half corner kicks. California outshot Virginia 17-7 on the night.
Not that Virginia did not have its own chances early — senior midfielder Umberto Pelà and freshman forward Nick Simmonds both had clear opportunities that failed to find the back netting. Pelà’s header was thwarted by a lunging defender and Simmonds’ shot went clanging off the right goalpost.
The biggest cracks in the Golden Bear defense began to show in the second half. In the 73rd minute, de Vicente brought the ball up the left wing and fired a cross through the box, as he had done twice earlier to no result. Vicente intended to find a teammate to power home a goal. But instead a California defender erroneously stabbed at the pass, sending it behind him past his own goalkeeper.
“It gets back to wearing them down, wearing them down, not letting them score,” Coach George Gelnovatch said. “Keeping our cool, even in those moments in the first half, making a wing back adjustment, helped a lot.”
In the 81st minute, junior forward Marco Dos Santos found fellow junior forwad AJ Smith for a right-footed goal to swell the Virginia lead to 2-0. It marked Smith’s third goal of the season and Dos Santos’s ACC-leading ninth assist.
“Marcos made a big difference in there,” Gelnovatch said. “That was a hustle play, man. It's just not giving up. And then everybody froze, because I think everybody's waiting for the referee to blow the whistle. Everybody froze for a second. AJ kept his composure. That was not an easy finish. The ball is up high, so he kept himself over it and passed it in the goal.”
California mounted a late rally with an 87th minute goal. It proved to be too little, too late.
It was another game notched in Virginia’s 14-game unbeaten streak, and more importantly propelled the Cavaliers to a final Sunday at 1 p.m. against No. 7 seed SMU.
The Mustangs have been the highest scoring team in the tournament thus far, defeating No. 10 Wake Forest in a 5-4 barnburner, beating No. 2 Stanford 1-0 and trouncing No. 6 Syracuse 5-1. Though Virginia was victorious in their regular season meeting, SMU will look to give Virginia all it can handle Sunday night.
Virginia will hope to have Pela available for that game. He went down in the first half clutching his shoulder and stayed down for a few minutes while getting treated, before leaving the game and not returning. Gelnovatch could only go off what he saw right after the game.
“I gave him a nod and a wink in the locker room, and he said, ‘I'll be ready by Sunday,’” Gelnovatch said. “I don't know if that's correct or not medically. We’ll see.”
Either way, just one more game stands between Glenovatch’s squad and an ACC title. With plenty of accolades already in the books for the season — five All-ACC selections, an ACC Coach of the Year award, an ACC Freshman of the Year award for Simmonds — a championship trophy would make an excellent centerpiece heading into the NCAA Tournament.
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