With a constant rain falling through the bright lights at Klöckner Stadium, the Virginia Cavaliers shutout the Pittsburgh Panthers, 2-0, extending its home winning streak to 11 games.
Virginia (12-5, 3-3 ACC) kept up a strong offensive pressure throughout the game dominating the Panthers (8-9-1, 2-7-1 Big East) almost the entire 90 minutes.
The Cavaliers were without their leading scorer, junior forward Alecko Eskandarian, but it did not seem to make a difference.
"Alecko has been playing great all season," senior forward Ryan Gibbs said. "We had to go out and prove to ourselves that we could win and score without him."
Indeed, the Cavaliers were able to put up big offensive numbers even without Eskandarian on the field. Virginia out shot Pittsburgh 20-6 and had goals from two different scorers showing the team's depth. Coach George Gelnovatch commented on his team's strong bench after the game.
"That's one thing that's a strength of ours," Gelnovatch said. "We have three or four forwards we can rotate in there and we got two, three or four guys we can rotate into the midfield also."
In the 20th minute, senior forward Eric Solomon chipped a ball upfield to junior midfielder Ryan Kelly who then crossed the ball to Gibbs. Gibbs then proceeded to push the ball past one defender and get a shot off with his left foot beating the keeper and giving the Cavaliers the game-winning tally.
Gelnovatch did not overlook the strong performance of senior keeper David Comfort who had four saves in the game. With 22 minutes left in the second half, a Pittsburgh attacker broke through the Virginia defense and placed a shot to the lower corner of the net. Comfort dived to his right making a key save by pushing the ball just wide of the net and retaining Virginia's lead.
"He's been really good basically since the Duke game," Gelnovatch said.
Kelly put the game away for the Cavaliers in the 78th minute by working a give-and-go with senior forward Rob Wright. Kelly received the ball back from Wright on the play then drove the ball under the Pittsburgh keeper sealing the game for the Cavaliers.
"When you're only up by a goal, you're vulnerable for a cheap goal at the end," Kelly said.
"As soon as you score the second goal, the game will be over," Gelnovatch added.
The rain was a constant factor in the game for both teams. However, the weather did not slow down Virginia, which showed through with their strong possession style of play and offensive output. The win was not the best performance for the Cavaliers but they came through with the victory in the end.
"Given all those conditions, I was satisfied we won two to nothing," Gelnovatch said.
Virginia will have one more regular season game to prepare for the ACC tournament. The players already feel confident about their chances in the upcoming weeks when they will face off against some of the best teams in the nation.
"We're on a roll," Gibbs said.
The Cavaliers will look to stay perfect at home Friday when they face off against Temple in their final regular season match.
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