UVA Men's Soccer Loses Heartbreaker to Notre Dame

The Fighting Irish scored a goal with just three seconds left to hand the Cavaliers their first ACC loss

Olivia Taylor/Virginia Athletics

A draw is usually an unsatisfactory result in soccer. For the Cavaliers, though, it felt like an enormous victory as they scored the tying goal with just a minute and 22 seconds left in regulation to seemingly prevent a loss and salvage a tie with the Fighting Irish. 

Instead, Notre Dame countered quickly after UVA tried to put together one final scoring opportunity in the waning moments of the match. The Irish gained possession and found that the Cavaliers had overextended themselves on the offensive end, leaving just one backline defender near midfield. Notre Dame freshman KK Baffour broke free with the ball and streaked toward the UVA goal with less than ten seconds left. Holden Brown tried to make the save, but Baffour beat him and deposited his shot in the back of the net to retake the lead for the Fighting Irish with just three seconds remaining. 

The Cavaliers got greedy, trying to score twice in the final 90 seconds, and left themselves exposed on the back end. The Irish made them pay, as Notre Dame handed Virginia a heartbreaking 2-1 loss on Friday night at Klockner Stadium.

Despite holding a 20-8 advantage in shots, including an 8-3 edge in shots on goal, Virginia was held scoreless for the first 88 minutes of the match thanks to an incredible performance from Notre Dame goalkeeper Bryan Dowd, who made seven saves. The UVA offense, which came into the match having scored nine goals in its last two matches, had scoring opportunity after scoring opportunity, but just couldn't capitalize on their chances. 

The Fighting Irish, meanwhile, had to struggle just to keep the ball out their defending third of the field. It was a physical battle with both teams getting whistled for 13 fouls and four yellow cards each, with six of those eight total yellows coming in the second half. 

After blitzing Notre Dame through the first 60 minutes of the match, the Fighting Irish began to regain ground on the Cavaliers, who saw their momentum slip away, replaced by frustration and fatigue. Holden Brown made a couple of saves on dangerous Notre Dame chances, but it was a fluke goal that gave the Irish the lead. In the 68th minute, Notre Dame was awarded a corner kick. The ball landed close to the goal line in an extremely crowded box and deflected wildly into the back of the net. It was unclear who the ball bounced off of, but evidently, it was not a Notre Dame player but rather a UVA defender who got the last touch. Officially, the first goal of the match went down as a Notre Dame "team" goal. 

The Cavaliers went into desperation mode and aggressively tried to find an equalizer. The scoring chances came, but Bryan Dowd and the Notre Dame defense continued to deny the Hoos. There were several set pieces for UVA in the final minutes, including a wild sequence in the 80th minute in which Mortiz Kappelsberger rocketed a shot that struck the crossbar, sending the ball back to the foot of Philip Horton who sent in a shot that was saved by a diving Dowd. With the opportunities and shots the Cavaliers were getting, it was becoming more and more unbelievable that they had yet to break through. 

Then, in the 89th minute, a free kick resulted in another hectic sequence right in front of the goal in which multiple UVA shots were blocked at point-blank range. Dowd couldn't find the ball and eventually Kome Ubogu was there to scoot the ball into the back of the net, sending the Virginia bench and the crowd at Klockner Stadium into a frenzy, celebrating the equalizer as if it was a game-winner. 

Virginia got another chance to perhaps steal the victory on a corner kick with 37 seconds left on the clock. The cross was pushed out by the Notre Dame defense and KK Baffour did the rest, tracking the ball down racing the length of the field untagged, scoring to send the UVA crowd into stunned disbelief. 

The painful defeat gives Virginia its first conference loss of the season as the Cavaliers fall to 4-3 on the season. UVA will look to bounce back at home against American on Tuesday at 7pm. 

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