Just as in their last meeting, Virginia and Notre Dame battled right to the finish in Sunday’s game. Though the regular season rematch could not end in penalty kicks, it provided all the drama of last year’s ACC semifinal.
Playing with only 10 men for the majority of the second half, Virginia rallied from a 1-0 deficit to even the game with a goal from senior midfielder Eric Bird in the 68th minute.
After 20 minutes of extra time, neither team managed to score the game winner. Still, No. 7 Virginia (4-1-0, 1-0-1 ACC) came away very pleased after earning a 1-1 draw against No. 5 Notre Dame (3-1-2, 1-0-1 ACC).
“Whenever you lose a guy, especially against a great opponent like Notre Dame, you don’t really expect to get a point out of the game,” Bird said. “I was especially proud of us going down — after we went down to 10 men — and then answering with a goal ourselves. It was a complete team effort, and I couldn’t be more proud of the guys.”
The first half between the two programs played out as competitively as expected, with no team ever taking clear control.
The Cavaliers were able to withstand several Fighting Irish scoring opportunities midway through the first half, including shots in the 21st and 24th minutes and a corner in the 25th minute.
But Virginia responded with a few near misses of its own. Senior forward Kyle McCord, junior midfielder Scott Thomsen and senior forward Ryan Zinkhan could not connect on shots in the 29th,, 32nd and 33rd minutes, respectively.
The Cavaliers’ best scoring opportunity came with just two minutes remaining in the first half. Freshman midfielder Jake Rozhansky sent a cross in front of the goal to junior forward Darius Madison, who gave a touch to McCord from six yards out. McCord’s rip was saved, though the play was offset by an offside penalty.
The match was tied 0-0 at the break, with each team only taking four shots. Virginia managed three corner kicks to Notre Dame’s two, in addition to the half’s only shot on goal.
The second half began slowly, with Virginia and Notre Dame taking just two and one shots, respectively, in the first 20 minutes of play.
But in the 65th minute, Virginia was victimized by a deep pass which snuck behind the Cavalier three-man back line. In an effort to save a one-on-one opportunity with Virginia senior goalkeeper Calle Brown, redshirt freshman defender Wesley Suggs raced back, slide tackling Notre Dame junior midfielder Patrick Hodan in the penalty box.
Suggs was issued a red card on the play — leaving Virginia a man down for the rest of the game and resulting in a Notre Dame penalty kick. Though Brown guessed the right side of the net, he was unable to save Hodan’s shot, giving the Fighting Irish a 1-0 lead.
“It looked like a penalty kick,” Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. “Whether it was a red card or not — sometimes I see it called. Today we came out on the short end of the stick.”
To compensate for Suggs’s loss, Gelnovatch substituted senior defender Matt Brown — who, despite starting 18 matches a year ago, had yet to see action this season — into the game to take Suggs’s spot at center back.
“It wasn’t easy to come in in that situation,” Gelnovatch said. “I thought Matt Brown did a very good job.”
Three minutes later, Virginia capitalized on passing opportunities. In the 68th minute, Bird scored when senior defender Kyler Sullivan passed to him just inside the penalty box, turning and ripping a shot which — though deflected by the Fighting Irish goalkeeper — went through a defender’s legs into the left side of the net.
“It was what we worked on all week in practice — getting the ball wide and finding that middle zone,” Bird said. “Kyler picked me up beautifully, I had a simple turn, and I saw the guy open his legs up a little bit. I just tried to shoot it far post and luckily it went in.”
In the final 20 minutes of regulation, neither team could break away. The Cavaliers had opportunities — including a near miss by junior midfielder Nicko Corriveau in the 86th minute and a Zinkhan shot which sailed high with 30 seconds remaining. The Fighting Irish had scoring opportunities as well, including a shot which missed — just high — in the 81st minute.
Virginia possessed the ball for most of the first extra time period, but failed to ever take advantage. Meanwhile, the patchwork Cavalier defense held strong, surviving the period despite allowing three shots and forcing Calle Brown to make a save with 10 seconds remaining.
Again, the Virginia defense held strong in the second extra time period, as Calle Brown made several key saves. Virginia halted the Fighting Irish attack for good in the 107th minute when Brown extended high to snag a Notre Dame shot from 15 yards out for his fourth save of the match.
“All of us had to defend, including our one forward,” Gelnovatch said. “If you go down a man, that’s just the nature of the beast. We did a great job of it.”
Virginia will conclude its four-game home stand against Davidson Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Klöckner Stadium.
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