Deja Vu: Virginia Men’s Soccer Suffers Back-To-Back Double Overtime Losses

Holden Brown made nine saves, but JMU scored late in the second overtime period to defeat UVA 1-0.

Photo courtesy of Catey Goodrum/ Virginia Athletics Communications

Just when you thought the misfortunes couldn’t get any worse for the Virginia men’s soccer team…

For the second time in as many matches, the Cavaliers found themselves in double overtime on the road against a quality in-state opponent. And for the second game in a row, the Hoos allowed a heartbreaking goal with just moments left on the clock and went home with a loss.

JMU’s Melker Anshelm scored the game-winning goal with a little over one minute left in the second overtime period and the Dukes (6-2-0) defeated Virginia (2-4-1) by a final score of 1-0 on Tuesday night in Harrisonburg.

JMU outplayed Virginia for most of the night. The Dukes outshot the Cavaliers 23-7 and put 10 shots on goal as compared to Virginia’s two shots on goal.

The match would have been a blowout if not for the Herculean effort of Virginia goalkeeper Holden Brown, who made an incredible nine saves to keep the Hoos in the game until the very end. Brown's nine saves ties a career-high, matching his total from Virginia's 2-1 loss against Maryland earlier this season. 

Virginia barely had any offensive opportunities in the match, with both of UVA’s two shots on goal coming in the first half. Leo Afonso led the Hoos with four total shots and Asparuh Slavov had the other shot on goal. Both shots were saved by JMU goalie Martin Leu.

In UVA’s last match against Virginia Tech in the Commonwealth Clash on Friday, the Hoos and the Hokies also went to double overtime with the score even at one goal apiece. In the 108th minute, Virginia Tech scored the game-winner on a header by Jacob Labovitz.

Unfortunately, the Cavaliers suffered a similar fate on Tuesday night against JMU.

Holden Brown made another athletic save on a potential game-winning shot by JMU’s Tyler Clegg in the 105th minute.

Then, with less than 90 seconds remaining before the match would have ended in a 0-0 draw, JMU took its ninth corner kick of the game. The Dukes crossed the ball into the box and Holden Brown made a great play to punch it out, but it went right to JMU’s Nate Corley, who took a hard shot towards the goal. Brown made another great save on Corley’s shot but the ball rebounded to Clay Obara who made a crafty extra pass back into the middle to Melker Anshelm, who put it in the back of the net for the game-winning goal.

It was an agonizing end to another game the Cavaliers could have won.

With the loss, Virginia drops to 2-4-1 on the year. After winning their first two matches to begin the season, the Hoos have lost four of their last five games and have not won a match since defeating High Point on September 2nd in the second game of the season.

The road does not get any easier, as the Cavaliers return home to face North Carolina (4-2-1) on Saturday at 4pm.