Photo courtesy of Virginia Athletics Communications
Virginia Gets Second ACC Win with 2-1 Victory at NC State
It took a couple of lucky bounces, but the UVA men’s soccer team finally picked up its first road victory in ACC play, as the Cavaliers defeated the NC State Wolf Pack 2-1 in Raleigh on Friday night.
Both the Wolf Pack and the Cavaliers managed four shots and one shot on goal in the first half, but neither team was able to put one through and the game was tied 0-0 at halftime.
In the 54th minute, Virginia drew first blood on a goal by sophomore Leo Afonso, his sixth goal of the season. On the play preceding the goal, UVA nearly scored as Jules Anderson stole the ball and took a shot from near midfield that almost went in, if not for NC State goalkeeper Leon Krapf, who punched the ball up and over the crossbar at the last moment. On the ensuing corner kick, UVA played it short and made a few crisp passes to get the ball inside the box, where Andreas Ueland took a shot that was deflected back out to the right side. Michael Tsicoulias collected the ball and passed it back inside, where it was deflected again by a NC State defender and bounced to Leo Afonso, who got a foot on it and sent the ball past Krapf and into the bottom right corner of the cage for the game’s first goal. It was also Afonso’s third goal in the last three matches.
A little over four minutes later, Virginia scored again, this time on an own goal by NC State. Virginia’s Jules Anderson sent a through ball behind the defense to a cutting Leo Afonso, who took a shot that was saved by Leon Krapf, but the ball ricocheted towards defender Jamie Smith, who was trailing the play. The ball struck Smith and bounded back towards the net, crossing the goal line before Smith could chase it down to prevent the own goal, which made the score 2-0.
In the 64th minute, Smith redeemed himself by delivering a beautiful shot on a free kick from just outside the box that curved from right to left and hit the crossbar and bounced in for NC State’s first (and only) goal of the game.
The Cavaliers were able to fend off the Wolf Pack for the rest of the match. UVA goalkeeper Holden Brown made four saves in the match, three of which came in the second half.
NC State outshot UVA 11-10 and shots on goal were 5-3 in favor of the Wolf Pack, but Holden Brown and the Cavalier defense did well to maintain Virginia’s advantage down the stretch late in the game.
With the win, the Hoos pick up their second victory in ACC play and first road win over a conference opponent. Virginia improves to 5-7-2 overall and 2-4 in the ACC with two games left in the regular season. UVA returns to Klockner Stadium for the final home game of the season against Pittsburgh next Friday night.
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