After a rough start to the season, Virginia men's soccer finally found the statement result it had been searching for Sept. 25, stunning No. 6 Stanford 3-2 on the road. The Cavaliers (4-4-1, 2-1-0 ACC) now return to Klöckner Stadium Friday having won two of their first three conference matches. At the heart of it all has been a midfield quietly holding the team together.
The win Sept. 25 was built through the middle. Pinned back by Stanford from the opening whistle, Virginia managed just one first-half shot and made it count, as fourth-year midfielder Brendan Lambe finished off a move assisted by fourth-year forward/midfielder Marco Dos Santos in the 16th minute.
Stanford flipped the game with two goals early in the second half, but Dos Santos answered from the spot in the 72nd minute, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way. Two minutes later, second-year Sami Oulouheu laced a free kick into the six-yard box, which went in for the winner after it glanced off a Stanford defender. Virginia finished with just four shots on target and scored on three of them.
Like against Stanford, the middle of the park has been one of the stories of the season. Lambe and Dos Santos are two of Virginia’s captains, along with fifth-year defender Sebastian Pop. Lambe and Dos Santos alone have combined for seven assists and seven of Virginia’s 19 goals.
Virginia’s forays forward often culminate with Dos Santos on the right side, beating a defender to the endline and then cutting a pass back across goal. Virginia’s attack has been built around forwards crashing the six-yard box on those plays, with midfielders arriving late to finish.
“Most of the setups are cutbacks, so when you get cutbacks that are to the penalty spot and deeper, it's usually midfielders,” Virginia Coach George Gelnovatch said after the Sept. 8 draw with Oregon State. “It's one of the ways we get at teams, especially with our wingbacks.”
If Dos Santos is the playmaker on the wing, then Lambe has been the fulcrum in the middle. His three goals and a team-leading five assists are tied with fourth-year forward AJ Smith for the team lead in points, which is impressive for a player with more of a box-to-box profile. In his first three seasons combined, Lambe recorded five points. This season, finally healthy and back in his natural role, he has already nearly quadrupled his previous career-best total of three.
Behind Lambe, second-year midfielder Bacary Tandjigora has anchored the midfield in the other direction. After recording six points in 15 appearances as a first-year, Tandjigora has taken on a more defensive role, appearing in eight of Virginia's nine matches. His numbers are modest, with one assist and six shots on the season. But his job is not to fill the score sheet. Rather, it is to win the ball back and free up the players around him, allowing Lambe to roam further up the pitch.
According to Lambe, that give-and-take is something the group has had to grow into.
“It's taken maybe a second for us to really understand each other, but we're definitely building chemistry," Lambe said after Virginia’s loss to High Point. “We have this relationship where we don't care who goes forward and who stays, but it's this balance that we've been working on.”
That balance was on full display at Stanford. Tandjigora went the full 90 minutes as the Cardinal outshot Virginia 26-4 and took 12 corners to the Cavaliers' zero. Fourth-year goalkeeper Caleb Tunks made a career-high six saves.
Dos Santos, a Boston College transfer now in his second season in Charlottesville, has provided the finishing touch. He has scored in back-to-back games, and his 22 shots are second on the team only to Smith’s 23. That is a whole new dimension for a player who was primarily a creator last season, when he tallied 10 assists and just one goal.
The midfield has had to absorb a significant loss, however. Third-year midfielder Luke Burns suffered a season-ending injury against Liberty Sept. 12, cutting short a campaign in which he had already notched a goal and two assists. His best night came in Virginia’s ACC opener, when he scored and assisted in a 2-0 win over Boston College.
Burns had been one of Gelnovatch's most reliable changes off the bench. When Virginia needed a more aggressive look against Oregon State, it was Burns who came on as the Cavaliers pushed numbers forwards in search of the equalizer.
Without him, the burden of providing that spark falls more heavily on Oulouheu and second-year Ethan Martinez, who is returning from injury. Depth is arriving, at least. Martinez, a Santa Clara transfer whom Gelnovatch said in early September was still working his way back to fitness, made his first start of the season Sept. 25.
Creating chances has not been the problem — closing games out has. All four of Virginia's losses have come on goals conceded after the 80th minute, most painfully a Wake Forest penalty with 14 seconds remaining Sept. 19. Sept. 25 offered a promising counterpoint.
There are signs that a reaction is already underway. Third-year forward Arnold Matshazi, a San Jose State transfer who scored 12 goals last season, returned from injury at Stanford for his first appearance since netting the equalizer against High Point Aug. 24. His return gives Virginia another finisher to feed off the midfield’s service.
At the other end, the Cavaliers have steadied the ship since Tunks took over in net, going 3-1-1 in his first five starts after a 1-3 stretch to open the season.
Virginia will look to build on the momentum Friday when it hosts Virginia Tech in the Commonwealth Clash. Kickoff at Klöckner Stadium is set for 8 p.m. If Lambe and company continue to control the middle of the park, and the Cavaliers can finally finish what they start, this season could still take a very different shape.
Read More
The Cavaliers battle through ITA All-American Championships
By Anderson Kim | 18 hours agoA week full of tough matches against the best in the country saw two Cavaliers earn their place at the NCAA Championships in Athens, Georgia.
A shifted ACC and a rising Virginia rowing looks to close the gap in its 2026-27 season
By Eleanor Lynch | YesterdayWith the ACC as strong as it has ever been, the Cavaliers will have to keep their standards high to achieve success.
Early promise gives way to growing pains for Virginia at Ben Hogan Invitational
By Sofie Keppler | YesterdayVirginia finished 14th out of 16 historically accomplished programs, tying with Stanford at a 43-over 883.
