CLEMSON, S.C. -- The remnants of Tropical Storm Tammy had battered western South Carolina for almost 36 hours when Virginia rolled into Riggs Stadium for Friday evening's matchup with Clemson. Despite the poor condition of the playing surface, which Virginia coach George Gelnovatch described as "like beach sand," the Cavaliers emerged with a thrilling 1-0 double overtime victory and improved their record to 8-1-2, 4-0 in conference.
"It was another crazy game," Gelnovatch said, laughing. "We were tired from the start. The Wednesday double overtime game [2-2 tie with Monmouth] was harder than I thought it was going to be. Then we had to travel eight hours to come play a team that wanted to win bad. To go through what we went through and come out of here with a win, I'm just happy with that."
The hero of the evening was freshman forward Yannick Reyering, who won the game for Virginia with a goal four minutes into the second overtime period. Following a Clemson foul, sophomore Nico Colaluca took the restart that was cleared back out to senior midfielder Will Hall. Hall's pass back into the box found Reyering on the backside and Reyering easily sent his 8-yard shot past Clemson goalkeeper Phil Marfuggi into the right corner of the net. The goal was Reyering's eighth of the season and vaulted him ahead of Adam Cristman for the team lead.
"It was an awesome cross from Will Hall," Reyering said. "I just got it on my chest, saw the goalie, and that was the game."
The game featured extremely physical play from both teams. Senior midfielder Joe Vide received several vicious hits from Clemson players in the first half. In the 31st minute of play, Clemson defender Jeff Routh fouled Colaluca and received his second yellow card of the game, prompting his ejection. Virginia had a one-man advantage until three minutes into the second overtime, when senior defender Gifford Okatah-Boi was given a red card for tackling a Clemson player when going for a ball near the sideline. Virginia won the game, however, 73 seconds later.
"I actually thought we played better when numbers were even in the first 30 minutes and the last minute of the game," Gelnovatch said. "When they went down a man, they dropped off and actually made it a bit tougher for us."
Virginia goalkeeper Ryan Burke now leads the ACC with eight shutouts on the season. He has recorded four against Clemson in his career. In the 87th minute, he made a nice save when Clemson's Dane Richards had an excellent look at the goal.
"He was solid and didn't make any mistakes," Gelnovatch said. "He had one good save and was steady on everything else. He kept us organized. I also thought our two center-backs, Lee Sandwina and Matt Poole, did a great job."
The first half saw Virginia out-shoot Clemson 5-3. The tables turned in the second half, with Clemson notching 10 shots compared to Virginia's five. Vide had a wide-open shot on the net in the 57th minute, but the ball sailed high over the net. Overall, Clemson out-shot Virginia 15-11. Virginia's only overtime shot resulted in Reyering's game-winning goal.
"This game was a tough battle from the first minute," Reyering said. "A lot of us were very tired, but the team never gave up. We wanted to win no matter what the circumstances, with the weather and all the nasty fans screaming bullshit at us. We wanted to win so badly, and everybody is happy that we did."
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