With the way things have been going for the Virginia men's soccer team, Saturday night's game against No. 2 Wake Forest did not look too promising. The Cavaliers were off to a slow start at 1-3 and were recently routed by No. 3 UCLA, 4-0, in their last match on the road.
Finally, after four games, Klöckner stadium was home to a team that actually looked like those of Virginia's past, as the Cavaliers (1-3, 1-0 ACC) upset the Demon Deacons (3-1, 0-1), 2-1, in front of 1,794 rain-soaked spectators in the season's ACC opener.
"We wanted to make sure that all of our senses were heightened, especially early on, to set the tone," Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said.
In every game this season, except for Virginia's 1-0 win over American, the Cavaliers have let their opponents score first, forcing themselves to try to comeback instead of comfortably staking themselves to an early lead.
Virginia reversed that trend Saturday night. With six minutes remaining in the first half, Virginia capitalized on a corner kick in brilliant fashion. Sophomore midfielder Phillip Long served a low cross from the right corner into the middle of the penalty box.
Senior captain Matt Oliver did the rest. Oliver came blazing through the box, burning his defender, finding Long's cross and putting it in the back of the net with a powerful header, giving Virginia a 1-0 lead.
"The worst-case scenario for tonight was to be 0-0 at halftime because we felt like we could get a goal in the second half," Gelnovatch said. "The nice thing was that we got one in the first half."
The Cavaliers took the lead into halftime and came out for the final 90 minutes with the same intensity with which they started the game.
At the 54-minute mark, Virginia would put the game away with one final strike from freshman Adam Cristman.
Senior Kirk Dinnall played a perfect pass through Wake Forest's defense to spring Cristman into a one-on-one with the Demon Deacon goalkeeper. Cristman swifly put the ball over the advancing keeper's head from the 18-yard box to give Virginia the game-winning score.
"I made my run and Kirk [Dinnall] played it through," Cristman said. "I took a touch, the keeper came out, and I was able to get a good hit on it and got it over him."
A nationally-ranked team like Wake Forest, however, would not quit so easily.
Almost 15 minutes later, Wake Forest junior forward Stephen Keel took the ball down the right side into Virginia's corner, where he lofted a great cross to the awaiting head of senior forward Adam Hakes, who put the ball past Virginia's Ryan Best to cut the lead in half.
That would be the closest Wake Forest would come to victory and, as time expired, Virginia knocked off the highly ranked Deacons, 2-1.
After a rough four-game stretch to start the season, the Cavaliers finally got a quality win through a strong possession style of soccer.
"I told everybody that we're going to take our lumps early and that we'd be better for it in the end," Gelnovatch said.
Virginia is now 1-0 in the ACC and still has an entire season ahead of itself, but Saturday's win made the rest of the season look a little more promising.
Read More
Home loss to Notre Dame adds another first to men’s basketball’s worst season in memory
By Thomas Baxter | 2 hours agoVirginia dropped a home game to Notre Dame for the first time ever.
For Leah Hayes, 'Just keep swimming' is what Virginia is all about
By Xander Tilock | YesterdayShe shatters records in the pool and is an inspiration to swimming fans and all those with alopecia.
Virginia comes back from a 20-point gap but falls short versus No. 18 Georgia Tech
By Victoria Blankenship | 2 days agoVirginia loses another ACC bout in heartbreaking fashion.
