After a hard fought victory against Campbell and a tie in the sweltering heat of the ACC opener against N.C. State, the Virginia men's soccer team hoped to play relaxed soccer in preparation for its match Friday against Virginia Tech. Instead, the Cavaliers found a determined Mount St. Mary's team that stifled the Cavalier offense well into the first half. Ultimately, the Cavaliers prevailed 3-0, scoring two insurance goals late in the second half.
For this non-conference midweek match, most of the regular Cavalier starting lineup sat to give some fresh faces a chance to gain time on the field. It was also a chance for players to try positions they have not spent much time at in the past.
"I told our guys we're trying to accomplish a couple things -- give some guys some rest," Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. "It's been a tough stretch of two weeks."
After playing a positioning battle for the outside lanes, the first goal of the game came 36:34 into the first half off a Virginia free kick. Sophomore midfielder Neil Barlow put a cross right at the feet of sophomore Ross LaBauex, who kicked a low shot into the middle of the net.
"Neil [Barlow] played a good ball in there to me, he played it right to me," LaBauex said. "I kind of just hurried up and touched it and just tried to shoot it on goal and I was lucky enough to put it in the back of the net."
That was LaBauex's second goal of the year in as many starts, although he has contributed in five other games.
"[Ross] didn't have a first shot and he had to dig it out a little bit," Gelnovatch said. "He did a really good job of digging it out and finishing it."
The Virginia defense played solidly throughout the game, only allowing one shot on goal and five shots total. The Cavaliers (6-1-1) also minimized the number of corner kicks, keeping Mount St. Mary's (2-3-1) to three attempts, all without a shot on goal.
"We had a good back line in there -- we've trained a lot against the first team, so we're playing [in practice] against really good competition," redshirt freshman Karter Smith said. "We had all the confidence in the world coming into this game and I think we did really well."
Smith started his first collegiate game and performed well, holding down the middle of the Virginia back line. Smith also covered the ball all over Virginia's end of the field, working hard to create space for the midfielders.
"We had plenty of time to move the ball in the back to open up space in the midfield," Smith said. "Just playing together everyday really helps because we know where we are [and] we know the spacing is always perfect."
The second goal of the game came when sophomore midfielder Jonathan Villanueva slipped a pass from the sideline in front of the goal to junior forward Yannick Reyering with 4:16 left.
"It was good to get Jonathan [Villanueva] in the game; he slipped a great ball in right in front of the goal," Gelnovatch said. "One thing Jonathan does very well from that range is finish."
The third goal of the game came on a penalty kick by senior midfielder Will Hall with 51 seconds left, another different look for the Virginia squad, as Reyering usually takes penalty kicks.
"Will is the type of guy that is most rewarded with winning ... [so] it's nice to give him that penalty kick," Gelnovatch said. "He's gotten more minutes lately and has been doing very well and he's a real leader for us."
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