Virginia continued its winning ways Friday evening as it traveled to Newton, Mass., and downed Boston College in the team’s first away game in almost three weeks. After a deadlock for much of the game, the Cavaliers (5-4-3, 2-2-2 ACC) broke free with the heroics of junior defender Nick Dang’s 78th-minute stunner, which sunk the Eagles (3-4-5, 0-4-3 ACC) 1-0 and marked Virginia’s third consecutive victory.
Winning has become the Cavaliers’ newfound identity as they have now picked up six points in their last two ACC games after a dreadful six-game winless streak. They followed the script from Tuesday's James Madison victory, as both goals came near the matchup’s finales. Defense proved to be the key to tonight’s victory as Boston College thirsted for an equalizer up into the final seconds.
Coach George Gelnovatch’s squad had to fight for this win — the Cavaliers entered a hostile environment and obtained their first win on the Eagles’ home field in almost 20 years.
“This is not an easy place to play,” Gelnovatch said. “Boston College makes things really difficult on its opponents when they’re playing at home.”
The first half was plagued with missed opportunities. Virginia failed to capitalize on its first seven shots taken, but stifling defense rose to the occasion once again and limited the Eagles to only two shots of the half.
Senior goalkeeper Joey Batrouni, the reigning ACC Co-Defensive Player of the Week, was at it again for the Cavaliers Friday night. He made a heroic 13th-minute save after Boston College’s senior defender Christian Bejar had seemed to dissect Virginia’s defense for a moment.
In the 19th minute, tragedy struck for the Eagles as sophomore midfielder Marco Dos Santos was hit with a detrimental red card. Despite this advantage, the Cavaliers still did not seize control of the match as Boston College’s defensive tactics made up for its misfortunes in being a player down.
“Once they went down a man, it almost became a lot more difficult to score with the formation they played,” Gelnovatch said.
The Cavaliers totaled five corners in the first period but scored on none of them. It was almost as if Virginia had drawn cold from playing in the unfamiliar away atmosphere, as its last away game was Sept. 21.
The early portion of the second half seemed like a replay of the first, as no team could gain solid grounding on the other. Graduate midfielder Daniel Mangarov had his footprints all over the ball as he continued his search for the game’s first goal.
The 65th minute of the game was the beginning of a flurry of yellow cards headed Boston College's way. An unprecedented nine cards — seven yellow and two red — were assessed to the Eagles throughout the game. The Cavaliers used these cards as fuel, continuing to put pressure on Boston College’s defense until it finally folded.
Just before the 80th minute, on Virginia's season-high ninth corner of the game, Mangarov sent a beautiful ball into the air and connected with Dang for a Cavalier goal. After a lengthy review was carried out to determine whether Dang’s header crossed the goalline, enough evidence was given for the goal to be allowed. The goal was a long time coming for a Virginia attack that had been waiting for a breakthrough all night.
“The type of goal Nick [Dang] scored was exactly the type of opportunity we were going to have to capitalize on,” Gelnovatch said.
Batrouni was still tested by the Boston College attack in the final minutes, having to erase shots from the left and the right to help Virginia stave off a desperate Eagles team. His clutch gene was tested and once again he proved that he is one of the best keepers in the ACC. The Cavaliers saw the game out and emerged with an important three points on the road.
In each of the previous two seasons, the Cavaliers have put together lengthy unbeaten runs in late September and early October. Virginia appears to be replicating that type of run in the late portion of this season. Four games remain — including two in the ACC, against Syracuse and Pittsburgh — for the Cavaliers to prove they belong in the NCAA Tournament.
Virginia will look to keep its win streak alive at Klöckner Stadium Tuesday against American. The game will kick off at 7 p.m. and air on ACC Network Extra.
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