It took over 88 minutes and five attempts, but sophomore forward Yannick Reyering finally helped the Cavaliers do what no Virginia men's soccer team had done since 1988: defeat the UCLA Bruins. In what felt like an NCAA tournament preview, the Cavaliers (4-0-0) took down the Bruins (0-2-1) in a 1-0 thriller last night at Klöckner Stadium.
"This was the first time in not only my playing career but coaching career that we won against UCLA," Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. "That little milestone felt pretty good."
Reyering had been near the ball all night long but could not capitalize. Twice in the final 20 minutes he received a picture-perfect pass in front of the goal and both times he had trouble fielding it on the wet surface.
With three minutes to go in the game and overtime imminent, Virginia had a corner kick opportunity that flew across the field, touching a defender and falling on the other side. On the second corner kick it was junior midfielder Nico Colaluca, fresh off the bench after cramping earlier in the half, who bended the pass perfectly to Reyering for the seventh game-winning goal of his young career with only 1:43 left.
"Nico had a great ball in," Reyering said. "I timed my run perfectly and I think it hit two or three people but I'm very happy it went in."
The player celebration after the game more closely resembled what one would expect after an NCAA championship rather than a September soccer match, but Virginia knew it had come away with an important victory.
"We knew we were going to get their best shot after coming off the Maryland game," Gelnovatch said. "That's what we got."
The game started with a rush of adrenaline. Both teams seemed a bit hectic with the ball, which lead to some sloppy turnovers. However, when both sides finally settled down, some amazing shooting displays were witnessed.
UCLA got the first great attempt with last year's PAC-10 Rookie of the Year midfielder Sal Zizzo. He would finish with a team-high four shots, but no goal. The Bruins closest call may have come in the 69th minute when midfielder Kyle Nakazawa fired in a shot so hard that Virginia goalie Ryan Burke could not get a hand on it. Instead the ball ricocheted off the very top of the crossbar, out of bounds.
The goalies were the real stars of the match. UCLA's Eric Reed had the sixth best goal-per-game ratio in the country last year. Including two exhibition matches, Virginia's Ryan Burke helped the Cavaliers earn their sixth straight shutout of the season.
Despite the low scoring, chances were ample for both teams. Twenty-six shots were taken in total by both teams. That inability to convert led to visible frustration on both sides. When UCLA's Jason Leopoldo had a point-blank shot in the waning minutes of the game, it deflected away, causing him to fall to the ground in anger and punch the turf.
"Nine out of 10 times, it's not going to go in," Colaluca said. "You just wait for that one time. We had a bunch of chances but it came."
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