No. 15 Virginia Men's Soccer Falls to Loyola Marymount 3-1
The Loyola Marymount Lions, based in Los Angeles, California, traveled far for this game and made sure to make it worthwhile. Virginia started the game with captains Will Citron and goalkeeper Holden Brown on the bench, and in the first fifteen minutes, the Cavaliers looked sloppy, giving up two early goals. Eventually, Virginia battled back with a penalty goal from Leo Afonso midway through the first half, but that would be the last goal of the night for the Hoos, resulting in the Cavaliers suffering their first loss of the season.
"We didn't deserve to win. They [Loyola Marymount] were a physical, strong, and athletic team that took advantage of some big mistakes we made early on," said head coach George Gelnovatch.
It could not have been any worse of a start for the Cavaliers. Less than two minutes into the game, Jovan Prado dribbled past defender Aidan O’Connor on the left boundary before finding a wide-open Ryan Kingsford in the box to put the Lions up 1-0. After the goal, the pressure continued from Loyola Marymount as the Cavaliers struggled to find their way into the game.
After conceding an early goal, UVA showed frustration with Umberto Pela picking up a yellow card for an errand tackle.
As the Cavaliers continued to try to find themselves, Loyola Marymount once again took advantage, putting pressure in the box, which led to a deflection that dropped right to Lewis Clutton, who buried the ball into the open UVA net to put the Lions up 2-0.
Finally, after 15 minutes of play, Daniel Mangarov linked up with Leo Afonso to put together the Cavaliers' first shot of the game. For context, Virginia fired off 24 shots against Iona three days ago.
After the Lions' second goal, Virginia managed to control the majority of possession and produce a few enticing chances, but none were yet to be on net. Then, with 17 minutes left in the half Mouhameth Thiam drew a penalty for the Hoos. After that, Leo Afonso stepped up to the spot and buried a shot into the bottom left corner to bring Virginia within one.
The goal swung momentum towards Virginia as the Hoos began to mount immense pressure, which included multiple corners and a powerful shot from Afonso. After a rough start, Virginia began to put together good passing that produced tons of chances but would need to keep the pressure on in the second half.
"I started a bunch of different guys for some freshness, and we lost our way a little bit," said Gelnovatch on the slow start in the second half.
As action restarted, Virginia struggled against a strong counterattack from Loyola Marymount, who nearly scored on multiple occasions. On the offensive side, Virginia possessed the ball in the final third but struggled to break through the Lions' defense. As the half drained on, UVA struggled to put quality shots on goal and looked to be out of answers on the offensive side.
Eventually, Loyola Marymount once again broke through on the other side of the field, with another goal from Kingsford to solidify the victory with five minutes left. With less than three minutes to play, the Lions earned themselves a penalty after a foul from Elias Norris. Jovan Prado took the penalty for the Lions, but UVA goalkeeper Joey Batrouni, a transfer from Coastal Carolina, saved it to prevent the Cavaliers from surrendering a crippling fourth goal. UVA went on to lose 3-1.
Virginia returns to action Thursday at 7pm at Klockner Stadium against George Mason, looking to get back on track.
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