Football What: Virginia (2-3, 0-1 ACC) at Maryland (4-1, 0-1 ACC) Where: College Park, Md. When: Saturday, 3:30 p.m. The Skinny: Last week, Maryland entered the top 25 for the first time since ending the 2010 season ranked No.
The Cavaliers won their fourth game in a row and extended their unbeaten run to six games with a virtuoso performance. Virginia scored its most goals in a conference game since 2008 and held the Panthers without a shot on goal to win the first ACC matchup between the two teams.
With the announcer counting down from ten, the ball scooted by N.C. State senior goalkeeper Fabian Otte, careened off the right post to Virginia junior defender Matt Brown and found its way into an open net with six second remaining for a 3-3 tie.
Virginia’s three-goal deficit ultimately proved too much to overcome as its furious late-game rally came up short in a 3-2 loss.
Last season, the Virginia men’s soccer team graduated only two seniors and featured a team that had 18 freshmen and sophomores.
The Cavaliers (1-2-0) were fell to physical Clemson (3-0-0), 2-0, in their third game of the season.
Ask a member of the Virginia men’s soccer team, coach or player, about Jeff Gal, and he will likely describe the sophomore goalkeeper’s “presence.”
With his team trailing, 2-1, Salandy-Defour pushed forward, searching for a shot on goal. His charge, however, was curtailed by Louisville junior goalkeeper Joachim Ball.
Six freshmen and four sophomores started last year for the Cavaliers, and this year, with the team ranked 25th in the preseason NSCAA Coaches Poll, Virginia coach George Gelnovatch expects to rely on youth once more. For the on-the-cusp Cavaliers to take a step forward, Virginia’s sophomores must be anything but sophomoric.
Just more than three months after dropping a preseason game against a mid-tier CAA opponent, No. 2 Virginia ousted No. 1 Akron in a penalty shootout to claim the program’s sixth NCAA national championship and first under longtime coach George Gelnovatch. The title marked the first of the four varsity national championships Virginia has acquired since the Class of 2013’s arrival and highlighted the 2009-10 athletics season.
