What the Virginia men’s soccer team hoped would be a season-defining win turned out to be a Halloween nightmare.
Virginia was dealt a tough 2-1 loss Friday night by No. 5 Maryland (14-3, 5-2 ACC). Despite controlling the ball for the majority of the game, Virginia was unable to overcome an early Maryland goal that became a 2-0 deficit early in the second half. The Cavaliers were severely limited by two second-half ejections that forced them to play a man down for most the second half after playing a man up for 16 minutes following a Maryland ejection in the 36th minute.
Virginia’s man disadvantage hampered its ability to overcome not only Maryland’s lead but also the Terrapins’ stout defense, which did not allow the Cavaliers a single second-half corner kick. Virginia falls to 9-6-1 (4-3 ACC) with the loss and will play its final conference game Friday.
“Maryland is a good team, but we held them to three shots,” Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. “We were down a man for the last 25 minutes, and they didn’t get [more than one] shot. We played our hearts out and played pretty well. To come out of here with that result and two men red-carded is hard to swallow.”
Virginia entertained the Klöckner Stadium faithful with two early scoring opportunities, including a centering pass from freshman forward Brian Ownby. Virginia, however, could not control the ball well enough to turn those chances into goals. As the first half wore on, play between the two ACC foes grew increasingly rough. The Cavaliers were whistled for a number of fouls in the opening minutes, which allowed Maryland to dictate play in the game’s first 15 minutes.
Virginia turned things around midway through the first half as the Cavaliers began to put constant pressure on Maryland’s defense. Sophomore midfielder Jimmy Simpson and Ownby both had runs deep into Maryland territory that brought the Virginia faithful to their feet. By controlling the tempo, Virginia swung momentum to its side.
Maryland, however, negated all of Virginia’s momentum in a matter of seconds. A long ball played from a Maryland midfielder allowed junior forward Drew Yates to grab the ball and break through Virginia’s back line. After spinning to avoid turning the ball over, Yates fed the ball to junior midfielder Jeremy Hall who put the ball off the fingertips of Virginia junior goalkeeper Michael Giallombardo. Hall’s goal gave Maryland an early 1-0 lead in the 23rd minute.
Despite falling behind, Virginia kept up its intensity throughout the first half. The Cavaliers also received a huge break when Maryland redshirt sophomore forward Jason Herrick received a red card and was ejected from the game in the 36th minute, giving Virginia a one-man advantage.
Virginia began the second half with the same intensity it played with during the first. Unfortunately that intensity led to a red-card ejection for Virginia. Junior forward Matt Mitchell was ejected from the game in the 52nd minute for intentionally pushing a Maryland player after play had been whistled dead. Mitchell’s red card evened both sides at 10 players each and forfeited the man advantage Virginia held in the first half.
Despite the ejection, Virginia continued to push the ball on the conservative Terrapins. The Cavaliers sent long ball after long ball deep into Maryland’s defensive zone hoping to create a scoring opportunity; however, Maryland was equal to the task defensively and continued to deny Virginia any real scoring threats.
In the 64th minute, Virginia created its best chance of the night when a free kick was played by junior midfielder Jonathan Villanueva directly toward the Maryland defense. Instead of being cleared, though, the ball was deflected directly toward Simpson, who stood alone 5 yards in front of the goal. Simpson shanked his shot attempt wide left and missed the goal completely.
Simpson’s miss came back to haunt the Cavaliers just a few minutes later when Virginia committed a foul in its box, which awarded Maryland a penalty kick that senior midfielder Graham Zusi promptly buried in the back of the net to give the Terrapins a 2-0 edge.
Less than a minute after Maryland’s goal, Virginia shot itself in the foot when Ownby was tagged with a red card and ejected. Virginia’s second red card of the night put Virginia down a man facing a two-goal deficit. Despite a goal from junior midfielder Ross LaBauex in the 73rd minute, Virginia was unable to surmount Maryland’s lead.
“We’re definitely disappointed,” LaBauex said. “We left it all out on the field. We just have to forget about it and move on.”
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