Cavaliers Now

Virginia Men's Soccer Dominates No. 8 Louisville 3-0

The Cavaliers earned their most impressive victory of the season, upending the Cardinals 3-0 on Friday night at Klockner Stadium
Matt Newton|
Virginia Men's Soccer Dominates No. 8 Louisville 3-0
Virginia Men's Soccer Dominates No. 8 Louisville 3-0

Klockner Stadium offers Virginia's soccer teams a distinct home field advantage each fall. That's held true for the UVA men's soccer team this season more than ever, as the Cavaliers have now twice hosted ranked teams and have sent both of those ranked foes home with a loss. Virginia played arguably its best game of the season, outplaying No. 8 Louisville to the tune of a dominant 3-0 victory on Friday night at Klockner Stadium. 

Virginia set the tone early, controlling possession in the middle of the field and producing a shot on goal just two minutes in that required a save from Louisville goalkeeper Alex Svetanoff. In the 17th minute, the Cavaliers broke through and it was none other than the freshman sensation Stephen Annor finding the back of the net for the fifth time in the last five games and the sixth time this season. UVA worked the ball to Mouhameth Thiam in the middle of the field and Thiam sent a crisp through ball to a streaking Reese Miller, whose quick cross found the right foot of Annor in front of the cage and Annor converted to give Virginia the early advantage. 

Thiam nearly scored a goal of his own a few minutes later, but a save from Svetanoff kept the score 1-0, but only temporarily. In the 31st minute, Paul Wiese passed the ball to the right edge of the box to Daniel Mangarov, who used a deft piece of footwork to free up his left foot and then fired off a shot that made it through and snuck inside the near post to double the UVA lead. 

Louisville nearly struck back just a few minutes later with a series of three shots on goal, but Joey Batrouni, filling in for the injured Holden Brown, made three solid saves to keep the Cards off the board. The Cavaliers already had the upper hand in terms of physicality, possession, and the scoreboard, but now the Cardinals evidently had their spirits broken as well and did not attempt a shot for the rest of the half. 

Virginia outshot Louisville 7-4 in the first half and 16-7 in the match. Corners were also heavily in favor of the Cavaliers, who had five such opportunities as compared to just two for the Cardinals. 

The Hoos did not settle for just a two-goal victory either, continuing to press the attack until they found the back of the net for a third time. In the 71st minute, Aidan O'Connor sent an absolutely incredible pass from deep in UVA's side of the field that connected beautifully with Kome Ubogu at the edge of Louisville's box. Ubogu did the rest, finishing with his left foot to make it 3-0 in favor of Virginia, who became the first team to score three goals against Louisville this year. 

"I think today was the best total team performance of the year," said UVA head coach George Gelnovatch after the match. 

Now 6-3-1 overall and 2-2 in ACC play, Virginia will look to build on the momentum of this victory and keep the winning streak going when another ranked team comes to Charlottesville next week. UVA is set to host No. 19 Hofstra on Tuesday at 7pm at Klockner Stadium. 

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Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.

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