Virginia Men's Soccer Falls to Syracuse Via Penalty Kicks in ACC Semifinals

Many have said it. And it continues to ring true. Penalty kicks are a terrible way to determine a soccer match.

To be fair, the same would still be true even if the Cavaliers had come out on top of the PKs at the end of their ACC semifinal match against Syracuse. But I'll take the risk of looking like a bitter UVA partisan and maintain that penalty kicks are no way to decide a soccer match, especially in the postseason.

Behind goals from Andreas Ueland and Leo Afonso and a stellar performance in goal from Holden Brown, Virginia held a 2-1 advantage over the Orange on the road into the final ten minutes of the semifinal match. But Syracuse found a late equalizer and then, after two scoreless overtime periods, converted all five penalty kicks to take down Virginia and book a trip to the ACC Men's Soccer Championship.

Like many sports, soccer is a game of inches. And that showed itself plainly in first several minutes of the match. UVA came out of the gates aggressively on offense and generated two corners within the first five minutes. Junior forward Philip Horton had a promising shot inside the box just over three minutes in, but it was just barely blocked away by a Syracuse defender before it could reach the goal line.

A couple of minutes later, UVA had a free kick from the right wing and Horton got a head on the cross, sending the ball into the back of the net. The Cavaliers thought they had taken a very early lead on the road against the No. 2 seed Orange. Instead, the flag went up and Horton was called offsides, leaving early by what must have been just a couple of inches.

In the 28th minute, a similarly miniscule margin decided the difference between a harmless foul and a Syracuse penalty kick, as Virginia's Aidan O'Connor fouled Nathan Opoku right at the edge of the UVA box. The referee reviewed the play and determined that the foul occurred just within the border of the box, resulting in a penalty kick for Syracuse. Jeorgio Kocevski stepped up to take the PK and although Holden Brown guessed in the right direction, Kocevski placed his shot well and it went just beyond the outstretched arm of Brown and into the back left corner to give Syracuse a 1-0 lead.

Earlier on Wednesday, Andreas Ueland was named the ACC Men's Soccer Defensive Player of the Year, a well-earned honor for one of the top defensive backs in the country. But on Wednesday night at Syracuse, Ueland got the job done on both ends of the field as he notched the equalizer in the 38th minute. A Virginia cross from the right wing was short, but Axel Ahlander got his head on the ball to flick it back up in the air towards the front of the cage. Ueland ran under the ball and got his head on it, sending it past Syracuse goalkeeper Russell Shealy to tie the match at 1-1.

38' 𝙂𝙊𝘼𝙇𝙇𝙇𝙇𝙇𝙇𝙇𝙇𝙇𝙇𝙇

The @ACCMSoccer Defensive Player of the Year provides offense to tie the game! pic.twitter.com/d1BkXWM2v3
— Virginia Men's Soccer (@UVAMenSoccer) November 9, 2022

Syracuse had a golden opportunity to take back the lead as Paul Wiese mishit the ball on a clear, giving Camden Holbrook a clear shot, but Holden Brown made a great save, one of eight saves the junior goalkeeper made in the match.

When UVA played at Syracuse back on September 24th, the lone goal was a spectacular shot from Leo Afonso in the late stages of the match with Syracuse down a man due to a red card. The rematch a month and a half later was a much higher-scoring affair.

In the 66th minute, Afonso had a scoring opportunity fall in his lap and didn't miss it, scoring what looked to be his second game-winner against the Orange this season. Horton sent in a left-footed shot that went off the hands of Shealy and fell to the foot of Afonso, who swept it into the back of the net to give Virginia the lead.

66' 𝙂𝙊𝘼𝙇𝙇𝙇𝙇𝙇𝙇𝙇𝙇𝙇𝙇𝙇

LEO GIVES THE HOOS THE LEAD! pic.twitter.com/HQUfN0M4eR
— Virginia Men's Soccer (@UVAMenSoccer) November 9, 2022

Although Virginia held the lead for most of the second half, Syracuse largely won the battle in the midfield and generated many more scoring chances, outshooting UVA 8-3 in the second period and 21-15 in the match. It was only Brown's heroics in cage that kept the Cavaliers in front for as long as they were. Brown made two more saves in the second half to preserve the lead, including a brilliant diving effort to just barely get a hand on Nathan Opoku's shot in the 69th minute.

15 minutes later, Lorenzo Boselli took a shot with similar placement as Opoku's, but he struck his with a little more velocity and denied Brown any chance of making the save as the ball grounded into the back left corner of the goal for the equalizer with just over six minutes remaining.

Syracuse had several scoring chances in overtime, forcing Brown to make two more saves and Andreas Ueland made a couple of big-time blocks as well to keep things tied up. Virginia had a shot on goal at the very end of each overtime period, but neither shots had much chance of scoring and Shealy easily made the saves to send the match to penalty kicks.

Although Brown delivered a fantastic effort for the 110 minutes of regulation and overtime, his shootout performance was far from his best. The Orange converted all five of their attempts, while the Cavaliers missed in the second frame as Ueland had his kick saved by Shealy. Colin Biros converted the fifth kick to clinch the win and send the Orange to Sunday's ACC final.

It's certainly a disappointing outcome for the Cavaliers, who were just six minutes and change away from their first trip to the ACC title match since 2019. But for a team that was picked to finish last in the ACC Coastal division, a third-place finish in the regular season and a trip to the semifinals far surpassed expectations for UVA in the ACC portion of the season.

Now, Virginia (10-5-3) will wait to learn its draw for the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship. The bracket will be revealed on Monday, November 14th and the tournament will begin on November 17th.

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