Despite finding itself trailing an opponent for the first time in 10 games, the No. 2 Virginia men's soccer team overcame an ugly first half to defeat Mercer, 2-1, last night before a crowd of 1,193 at Klockner Stadium.
Although the Cavaliers (11-0-1) demonstrated their technical superiority from the opening whistle, the Bears (7-6) refused to be intimidated in their first appearance against Virginia. In the fifth minute, Mercer's Neil Zarac followed up two shots on goal that left Cavalier goalkeeper Kyle Singer on the ground by pushing the ball over Singer to give the Bears a 1-0 lead. In addition to giving Mercer a surprise lead, the goal was the first the Virginia defense had allowed in the last eight games, which covered more than 657 minutes of playing time.
Following the goal, the tempo and the style of the match changed dramatically. Mercer dropped as many as nine defenders behind the ball and looked to protect its lead.
"We've been able to keep teams from scoring this year," Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. "Then we can dictate the game. As the game goes on we get better and dictate the game. By letting the other team score tonight, it became less manageable because they dropped off" to defend.
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Although the Cavaliers out-shot the Bears, 13-5, in the first half, the Mercer defense managed to block and scramble away all of Virginia's attempts. Virginia's play improved in the second half, with the running ability of halftime substitute Ryan Gibbs opening up more opportunities. Still, goalkeeper Lucio Filho and the Bears' defense remained impenetrable and took care of several golden opportunities by Gibbs and the other Cavalier forwards.
The Cavaliers demonstrated the maturity that has marked their play this year and refused to be flustered. Virginia continued to pound away at the Mercer goal and out-shot the Bears, 12-1, in the second half.
"In the first half we didn't look like the greatest team," Virginia senior forward Sheldon Barnes said. "Everybody wasn't in tune. [But] we kept our composure well and just kept on playing soccer. That's the sign of a good team, and we finally got a goal."
That goal came in the 76th minute courtesy of Barnes. Following a long throw-in by Sean Feeney, Barnes jumped up to battle Filho for the ball. Barnes headed the ball through the goalkeeper's hands and the crowd watched it bounce once before settling into the goal. Barnes' goal pulled the Cavaliers even at 1-1 and placed all of the momentum on the Virginia side.
"That's the kind of goal we needed," Gelnovatch said. "We knew it was going to be a scrappy fight in front of the goal. I felt that if we got that goal, we'd win the game."
Virginia continued to press forward, with Eric Solomon volleying a ball just over the goal for the Cavaliers. The Mercer defense finally yielded the game-winning goal in the 80th minute on a 22-yard direct free kick by sophomore forward Alecko Eskandarian. Eskandarian calmly drove the free kick around the Bears' wall and into the back of the net to give the Cavaliers a 2-1 lead.
"That [free kick] was one that I wasn't supposed to take," he said. "But I was really upset about how I had gotten taken down on the breakaway, and I was really hungry for a goal."
Gelnovatch said he thinks the Cavaliers' performance against Mercer will help them focus for this weekend's matchup against Duke.
"This almost feels like a loss for us," Gelnovatch said. "This is our worst performance. Usually it takes a loss to learn something or to get a wake up call. I think that we got a wake-up call tonight with a win, and that's a nice thing"
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