Pioneers Rally to Take Down Cavaliers 2-1 in Overtime

On Monday evening, the UVA’s men’s soccer team (4-7-2) fell to the Denver Pioneers (8-2-1) 2-1 in an overtime nail-biter at Klockner Stadium in the final non-conference match of the regular season.

The Cavaliers entered the game fresh off of a 2-1 victory over Boston College on Friday. The quick turn-around from Friday to Monday left much to be desired in terms of energy from the team, according to UVA head coach George Gelnovatch.

“We’re a little fatigued from Friday,” Gelnovatch said following the match. “I could see that in the group.”

However, for most of the game, the win seemed well within reach for the Cavaliers. In the 23rd minute of the game, graduate forward Daniel Wright found the goal, putting the Cavaliers in the lead. Freshman Paul Wiese made a run up the right side and crossed the ball into the box to sophomore Leo Afonso, who headed it over to Daniel Wright, who also got a head on the ball to send it past Denver goalkeeper Will Desantis.

23' | GOAL HOOS!

Daniel. Wright. Throws his whole body into the header for the score 👀 🤯#GoHoos #SCtop10 pic.twitter.com/FxZAnuuZhR
— Virginia Men's Soccer (@UVAMenSoccer) October 11, 2021

“[The ball] was up in the air and I just jumped and put my whole body into it,” said Wright, who notched his first career goal as a Cavalier. “It went in, not sure how it went in, but I got up and I scored.”

The rest of the game crept by slowly, with the Cavaliers able to stave off Denver’s advances. However, with 10 minutes left in the second half, Denver junior Kengo Ohira shot the ball past UVA’s Keeper Holden Brown, whose diving effort was not fast enough to make the save.

The remainder of regulation progressed quickly, with Holden Brown making a save against a shot by Denver’s Destan Norman and UVA’s freshman Asparuh Slavov and junior Andreas Ueland sending shots to Denver’s net, both of which were unsuccessful.

Within the second minute of overtime, Asparuh Slavov was able to get an opening and hit the crossbar, and a wave of disappointment fell over the crowd. This proved to be fatal for the Hoos as Denver was able to score shortly after.

In the 95th minute, Denver’s Destan Norman dribbled through several UVA defenders in the middle of the field and delivered a blazing strike into the top shelf of the goal to secure the victory for the Pioneers.

“Obviously, the result is the most important thing.” Wright said after the game. “It’s frustrating to see.”

When asked about what’s next for the Hoos, Gelnovatch remained cautiously optimistic, despite the failures of this season: “We’ll keep going and keep building.”

With the loss, Virginia drops to 4-7-2 overall. The Cavaliers begin a three-game ACC stretch to end the regular season with a match at NC State on Friday night.

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