The Virginia men’s soccer team picked up its second win of the season with a 2-0 victory over High Point on Thursday night.
The Cavaliers (2-0, 0-0 ACC) had a significant opportunity early after a handball from the Panthers (1-2, 0-0 Big South) awarded them a penalty kick in the fifth minute. Junior defender Andreas Ueland stepped up to the spot and sent junior goalkeeper Holden Trent the wrong way to give the Cavaliers an early 1-0 lead.
Ueland nearly struck again a few minutes later, but his header off of a free kick sailed just over the bar. High Point’s first big chance came in the 10th minute, as junior forward MD Myers had a shot outside the box saved by sophomore goalkeeper Holden Brown. Brown came up big again in the 24th minute, saving an open header from senior midfielder Alex Abril.
In the 31st minute, senior forward Cabrel Happi Kamseu nearly extended the Cavaliers’ lead, but Trent saved his effort from a corner kick. Virginia almost scored again a few minutes later, but graduate forward Daniel Wright’s save was cleared off the line by junior defender Brady Francher.
Virginia was awarded another penalty kick in the 39th minute after freshman midfielder/defender Nils Henry Orywol was pushed over in the box. The High Point players disagreed with the call and Trent was given a red card after arguing with the referee. Junior goalkeeper Ricardo Ceballos was subbed on for High Point to replace the ejected Trent.
Ceballos saved Ueland’s penalty, but Ceballos was ruled to have left his line too early and the Cavaliers were allowed to retake the penalty. Ueland took advantage of the retake and converted it to give the Cavaliers a 2-0 lead.
Just a few minutes later, the Cavaliers were awarded a third penalty kick after Wright was taken down in the box. Wright stepped up to take the penalty, but Ceballos saved it to keep the score at 2-0 in favor of Virginia heading into the half.
Virginia’s first big chance of the second half came in the 50th minute, when Wright fired a shot from outside the box that was saved by Ceballos. Later in the half, junior forward/midfielder Nick Berghold created some space and fired a shot that went just over the crossbar.
Playing down a man for the entire second half, High Point was unable to create many chances and Virginia dominated possession and cruised to the victory. In total, Virginia outshot High Point 19-3.
Virginia returns to action Monday night with a game against No. 11 Maryland. The two rivals will take part in the third annual “Battle for the DMV” at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.