Afonso Nets Third Goal of the Season but Virginia Plays UNCW to 1-1 Draw

The UVA men’s soccer team has gotten quite used to playing long games, as the Hoos went to double overtime for the fourth time this season in Tuesday afternoon’s game against UNC-Wilmington.

The match was moved up to a 1:30pm start from its original start time of 7pm due to expected inclement weather in Charlottesville on Tuesday night. It was definitely good that the match started earlier, as the Cavaliers and Seahawks played to a 1-1 draw in a match that lasted over two and a half hours.

The new start time did not seem to faze UNCW (7-3-1, 2-1-0 CAA), as the Seahawks struck first less than seven minutes into the match. Omar Aboutaleb got loose on a fast break and scored off of a pass from Jacob Evans to give UNCW the early 1-0 advantage.

For the rest of the match, however, the Seahawks were on their heels as the Cavaliers blitzed them with shot after shot. UVA outshot UNCW 27-14 and shots on goal were 15-5 in favor of Virginia. The Hoos also had 16 corner kicks as compared to just three for UNCW.

Despite generating several offensive chances, the Cavaliers remained scoreless for nearly 70 minutes, as UNCW goalkeeper Gabriel Perrotta made an astounding 14 saves, including nine saves in the second half.

Virginia finally broke through and scored the equalizing goal in the 69th minute. Leo Afonso and Kaya Ignacio worked a give-and-go, with Afonso making a run up the right wing and passing inside to Ignacio running alongside him. Ignacio got a foot on the ball and popped it into the air back to Afonso, who put a great touch on the ball before sending a hard shot over the head of Perrotta to tie the game at one goal apiece.

69' | GOAL HOOS!

Afonso wins the ball, dishes to Ignacio, who sends it up perfectly for the finish by Afonso.

Tied at 1-1 with UNCW#GoHoos pic.twitter.com/UcT34rmglr
— Virginia Men's Soccer (@UVAMenSoccer) October 5, 2021

The goal was Afonso’s third of the season, tying Kome Ubogu for the team lead.

The closest either team came to scoring the golden goal in overtime was a two-man fast break for UNCW a few minutes into the second overtime period. Phillip Speed was completely free and had only UVA goalkeeper Holden Brown between him and the game-winning goal. Speed took the shot but Brown made a great kick save to keep the game tied at 1-1. Brown finished with four saves on five shots faced.

Virginia continued to struggle offensively, having scored only one goal or less in eight of their last nine matches.

UVA is now 3-5-2 overall and 0-4 in the ACC. The Cavaliers will host Boston College on Friday at 8pm, looking for their first conference victory of the season.

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