The Virginia men's soccer team hoped for a thrashing of in-state rival William & Mary, but the outcome was far from fulfilling as the No. 19 Cavs were handed their second straight loss, a 1-0 home defeat last night.
"It's a big win for us," Tribe coach Al Albert said. "We've never beaten U.Va. in Charlottesville, but we knew we had a decent chance this time."
"We should have won the game," Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. "We had three excellent chances in the first half to score."
Tribe freshman forward Carlos Garcia scored the game's lone goal with less than four minutes remaining. Shot from the left side of the field, the ball made it just past the outstretched fingers of Cav goalkeeper Kyle Singer.
"It wasn't a hard shot," Garcia said. "But it was well-placed."
"It went right past my fingertips," Singer said. "All I could think of when he took the shot was for the shot to 'please go wide.'"
Facing a strong Tribe squad (5-3-3) that can make every match a battle, Virginia (6-4-1, 1-2-1 ACC) was without two of its best soldiers. First-year phenom Kyle Martino had to sit out after earning a red card in Sunday's loss to N.C. State and third-year forward Ryan Trout missed the game because of a death in the family.
"It would have definitely made a difference to have [Trout and Martino] in the game," Gelnovatch said.
"They would have definitely been better with those guys," Albert said. "But they are still a real good team with the best team speed we've played against all year."
The brutal bashing between both teams started early and ended with a total of 45 fouls being called between the squads.
"If we play hard we feel like we can beat anyone in the nation," Albert said. "We have a great goalie in Adin Brown and he really keeps us in the game."
Unfortunately for the Cavs, a good goalkeeper was the last thing Virginia needed to run up against, especially with their scoring woes as of late, including only one goal in the buzzer-beating N.C. State loss.
"We had a ton of chances, we're just not the best finishing team in the world," Gelnovatch said. "We're playing with some younger guys. And, although I don't like to lose, we played okay. We just need to make sure we play with character and competitiveness and things will work out."
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