Virginia men’s soccer coach George Gelnovatch went into Friday night’s ACC opener against N.C. State knowing his team needed “a breakout game in terms of scoring.”
In a 5-0 drubbing of the Wolfpack (1-4, 0-2 ACC) at Klöckner Stadium, the Cavaliers (3-3, 1-0 ACC) not only met this need, but they played as if they had set out to accomplish an even more ambitious goal: make every play worthy of a highlight reel.
From the opening whistle, the young but talented Virginia attack froze N.C. State defenders in their tracks, fed passes as if the ball were a hot potato, and scored picture-perfect goals on their way to holding a clearly overmatched Wolfpack attack scoreless. The victory marked the Cavaliers’ first shutout win of the season, as junior goalkeeper Michael Giallombardo racked up four saves in his first start in net this year.
The win put an end to the squad’s offensive troubles as well. In their three losses thus far this season, the Cavaliers nearly doubled their opponents in shots on goal but failed to convert on numerous golden opportunities, managing just 2 goals on 46 attempts in disappointing defeats to St. John’s, Southern Methodist and VCU. Against the Wolfpack, however, the floodgates finally opened.
“Unfortunately, that’s how the game of soccer is,” freshman forward Chris Agorsor said, who was responsible for the first Virginia goal of the game, connecting on a through ball from fellow freshman midfielder Tony Tchani in the 16th minute. “You can take 20 shots and score two goals, or you can take three shots and get all three. Today, fortunately for us, was a day where the ball was going into the net.”
The freshman-dominated Virginia attack treated the home crowd of 3,040 to a barrage of goals in the first half, adding to the early 1-0 lead with three goals in the final 10 minutes before halftime. Less than a minute later after Tchani converted on a penalty kick in the 37th minute, freshman defender Hunter Jumper, unassisted, scored for his first career collegiate goal to give the Cavaliers a 3-0 lead. Tchani struck again barely two minutes later, this time heading the ball past N.C. State junior goalkeeper Christopher Widman.
“We’ve been working a lot on finishing,” Gelnovatch said. “We’ve been putting our attacking group in front of the goal every day the last 30 minutes of practice, just taking chances. They did very well with their chances tonight.”
The squad’s four-goal explosion in the opening 45 minutes against the Wolfpack marked the first time that Virginia had scored as many goals in one period of play since Nov. 8, 2002, when Virginia beat Temple 6-0 at home with four nettings in the second half.
“I’d like to say we were due for this kind of game,” Gelnovatch said. “But when you start five freshmen and count on them to get a lot of minutes and a lot of goals, you kind of hold your breath sometimes. Tonight they stepped up.”
Sophomore reserve midfielder Jimmy Simpson was the only non-freshman to score in the game for Virginia, capitalizing on an assist from junior midfielder Ross LaBauex at the 68-minute mark for Virginia’s fifth and final score. The other four goals came from the talented freshman class, underscoring a recurring theme for the Cavaliers thus far this season.
“Being the freshmen, we’re very excited and we want to do well,” Agorsor said. “We’ll keep taking those shots and we’ll get wins.”
Rebounding from a 3-1 loss to VCU last weekend, the Cavaliers can only hope that Friday’s performance against N.C. State is an indicator of things to come for the rest of the conference schedule.
“Last year, we started the [ACC] season with two ties,” Gelnovatch said. “To be at home, to bang five goals in, to keep a clean sheet and to be 1-0 in the conference for this young team is just a good shot in the arm.”
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