The all-important burst took 27 seconds.
A stodgy deadlock turned, in those 27 seconds, into a one-way landslide. The first goal thumped into the net in the 68th minute, and the next trundled home less than half a minute later, and suddenly it all felt over and done with.
Virginia allowed 19 seconds Wednesday against NC State between its two-second half goals. It allowed just those 27 seconds Sunday against Pittsburgh. Then the No. 9 seed Cavaliers (10-5-3, 3-3-2 ACC) weathered the final 20 minutes to knock off the No. 1 seed Panthers (12-5-0, 6-2-0 ACC) 2-0 at Ambrose Urbanic Field and advance, somewhat improbably, to the ACC Tournament semifinals.
“Massive team performance,” junior midfielder Umberto Pelà said. “They’re obviously a great team, but we had the edge today.”
The irony felt overwhelming. Pittsburgh, 16 days ago on the same field, drubbed Virginia. The Panthers scored three goals in three minutes, winning 4-1 as Virginia helplessly unraveled. The cascade seemed staggering for its speed.
But it was nothing compared to this. Even the individual plays developed so abruptly, plays that Coach George Gelnovatch called “two great goals.”
Midway through the second half, sophomore defender Victor Akoum won a corner. Senior defender Paul Wiese played it short to graduate midfielder Daniel Mangarov, who whipped it into the box, the ball hurrying toward the back post. Pelà had only to stick his head in the way. The ball bounced off and bulldozed into the net.
Then, moments after the restart, sophomore forward AJ Smith galloped forward and picked a Pittsburgh defender’s pocket. He glided forward and, with a quick twitch of the hips, slotted the ball home.
The junior college transfer garnered preseason acclaim from Gelnovatch, listed among the team’s top attacking threats. But he has hardly played, out at the beginning of the season due to injury and then squeezing in four games a month ago before going down again. Sunday he finally returned. This goal, the first of his career, gave the team a crucial cushion.
Virginia, though, did its hardest work in other ways. It started mentally. The Cavaliers played free of any scar tissue, for one simple reason.
“It don’t matter anymore,” Wiese said Tuesday.
The sour memory vanished, pushed away. But not before it helped inform a clump of tactical changes.
Virginia hunkered down, essentially, dropping an extra man back while pushing an additional midfielder forward. The back line got gashed a couple weeks ago with balls in behind, throwing defenders into fragile one-on-one situations.
“We had a couple slips, a couple adjustments, and all of a sudden it was 2-0,” Gelnovatch said. “So we took a little bit of a different approach.”
Senior defender Austin Rome started at center back, pushing sophomore defender Victor Akoum wide. Sophomore midfielder Brendan Lambe, who has oscillated from left back to midfield all season, moved into the midfield and did some of everything.
Gelnovatch made just two substitutions. He trusted his plan, and his players.
“We had a plan coming into this game,” Gelnovatch said. “And part of that was to start well, remain tactically disciplined, and take them out of their mojo.”
The defensive posture frustrated Pittsburgh the entire first half and most of the second. The Panthers found the better chances in the first half, putting a couple headers over the bar. But neither team could manufacture anything. Shirts whipped and fluttered in the wind. Gelnovatch and Pittsburgh Coach Jay Vidovich mirrored each other on the sideline, standing still and pacing, Vidovich’s arms crossed, Gelnovatch’s clasped behind his back.
Both teams huddled in groups at halftime, conferring, eyes alert, talking it over. It seemed like a game, at that point, of tactics and intelligence, trying to outwit an opponent.
Really, though, it took just two moments. Goals apparently come in bundles this postseason, two at a time.
Virginia had just two shots on goal. Pittsburgh manufactured just one. That was the sum of it.
That one Panther shot encountered an unfamiliar pair of gloves, ones belonging to graduate goalkeeper Tom Miles, who until late October had never tasted the field. Miles, a transfer from Division II Lubbock Christian, sat behind senior goalkeeper Joey Batrouni.
In that first game against Pittsburgh, with Virginia down 4-0 at halftime, Miles finally played, Gelnovatch wanting to rest Batrouni and give Miles some time.
Sixteen days later, on the field where Miles played his first minutes of the season, he got his first start. Batrouni is still recovering from the injury he sustained in Wednesday’s first half. Virginia will hope to have him back for Thursday’s semifinal against Wake Forest — at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C., at 5:30 p.m. — but Miles has performed admirably in his stead.
At the end, there were junior defender Nick Dang’s parents, suited up for the cold, leaning over the fence, flapping a massive Virginia flag. Perhaps they will carry it to Cary, too, and even beyond.
Virginia is not thinking that far in the future, though. The mindset remains simple.
“One game at a time,” Pela said.
One game at a time. One play at a time. Apparently 27 seconds at a time, too.
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