On a thunderous and rainy Monday evening, Virginia men’s soccer had to wait almost an additional hour to take the pitch. The Cavaliers returned from the locker room, and little did they know the delay wouldn't be the most unusual part of the evening.
After severe weather protocols pushed back the kickoff by 53 minutes, Virginia appeared to settle into the form it displayed Friday night against American. It should’ve been a routine night for the heavy favorite. Instead, two red cards completely turned the match upside down, and Virginia suffered a stunning 2-1 loss to FGCU.
All signs pointed to another field day at Klöckner Stadium after the Cavaliers (1-0-3, 0-0-0 ACC) took an early lead through a cheeky back-heeled goal from senior forward AJ Smith. Virginia was in complete control of the game for the first 20 minutes. But in the 27th minute, senior forward Marco Dos Santos was sent off for a tackle near midfield. The Eagles (2-0-2, 0-0-0 ASUN) equalized immediately and, after the Cavaliers went down to nine men with about 10 minutes left to play, FGCU senior forward Michael Ndiweni found the winner in the 86th minute to deepen a poor start to the season.
“I'm having a hard time describing how that game [went],” Coach George Gelnovatch said. “[We] took complete control of the game, scored a goal on our way to probably doing what we did against American … We're just going to have to work through it. The good news is I think we have a very good team, and we'll just have to watch the film, get through it, learn and get ready for [Boston College].”
Before everything started to fall out of place, the Cavaliers looked capable of taking care of business by building on the 4-0 win over American and turning their season around after opening with losses to UCLA and No. 16 High Point.
Virginia was shaky in the opening minutes, a common theme for this team starting the season. The Cavaliers surrendered an early shot on goal after a turnover and allowed the Eagles to find space through the midfield. But it didn’t take long for Virginia to grow into the match. The passing game was noticeably sharp and crisp in the attacking half and began stretching FGCU across the pitch with long balls.
The improvement produced the top-class goal in the 12th minute. Freshman forward Chase Duke and junior defender Alex Parvu combined to assist Smith to give the Cavaliers a 1-0 advantage. It was just the second time this season out of four games that Virginia had scored first, imposing itself on the match.
Then, in the blink of an eye, the match flipped.
Dos Santos was shown a straight red card in the 27th minute after a strong challenge in the Cavaliers’ defensive third, forcing Gelnovatch and crew to play down a man for over an hour. The Eagles immediately capitalized on the ensuing set piece, as a defensive miscommunication allowed junior forward Aron Martinez to equalize.
Despite the abrupt shift, Virginia refused to break down. Gelnovatch brought on freshman midfielder Emiliano Mercenari to help mark FGCU’s Martinez, and the Cavaliers nearly retook the lead before halftime when a set piece forced a top-class save from fifth-year senior Eduard Garcia.
The Eagles, up a man, controlled more possession after the intermission and aggressively pressed Virginia’s back line.
“When you play down a man for that long of a time, it's hard, man. It is really hard,” Gelnovatch said. “Typically, when you play down a man, it's usually the last [15-20 minutes]. But when you play down a man for that extended period of time, it's tough, and they managed and did great.”
For about an hour, the Cavaliers did enough to survive. Then the unusual Monday evening became almost unthinkable.
With roughly 10 minutes to go, Virginia was reduced to nine men after another straight red card was given to freshman forward Prince Abanfo. Gelnovatch said Abanfo was taunted and then retaliated, leaving an already stretched Cavalier team with a huge challenge for the rest of the match.
FGCU broke through in the 86th minute — Ndiweni capitalized on a depleted Virginia team to silence Klöckner Stadium.
A night that began with the Cavaliers seemingly rediscovering their form ended with the season's most stunning result so far. Virginia has now dropped three of its first four games, leaving Gelnovatch with the difficult task of getting back on track for a successful season.
“When you lose a game like this, and of course we lost the first two, it's a tricky dynamic getting the guys back on track and believing in each other, and we'll just get through it,” Gelnovatch said. “We'll just get through it.”
After a disappointing result in yet another strange match, the Cavaliers will face a Boston College team that has yet to drop a game at 6 p.m. Friday at Klöckner Stadium.
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