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No. 25 Cavaliers Blank American, 2-0
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 25 Virginia men’s soccer team notched its third straight shutout with a 2-0 victory over American Tuesday evening at Klöckner Stadium. Calvin Rezende (Fr., Davie, Fla.) and Brian Ownby (Sr., Glen Allen, Va.) each scored for the Cavaliers (10-5-1), who now have recorded five shutouts in their last seven matches.
Now 5-1-1 in its last seven games, UVa reached the 10-win plateau for the 31st straight season.
The Cavaliers played their first game without leading scorer Will Bates (Jr., Chester, Va.), who suffered a season-ending knee injury last Friday against Virginia Tech.
“It was a pretty good performance,” Virginia head coach George Gelnovatch said. “It was nice to get Chris Somerville back out there. I liked what I saw from him. We’re not going to let the injuries get to us. We’re going to be positive and move forward. We’re in a good position in the ACC race and still have a chance to win the regular-season title with a big game with Boston College coming up this weekend.”
UVa goalkeeper Spencer LaCivita (Fr., Raleigh, N.C.) made a pair of saves as he picked up his ACC-leading seventh shutout of the season. Matt Makowski also made a pair of saves for American (6-10-1).
American out-shot UVa, 10-9, while Virginia held a 6-3 advantage in corner kicks.
Virginia controlled the run of play for the majority of the first half. UVa got on the board in the 26th minute when Rezende made a move with the ball to get open at the top of the box, then fired low to the left corner of the goal to net his first college score.
The Cavaliers stretched their lead in the 67th minute. In his first half of action after returning from a month off because of a bout with mononucleosis, Chris Somerville (Fr., West Chester, Pa.) lofted a nice ball into the box from the right flank, and Ownby headed it just inside the near post for the goal. It marked Ownby’s fourth goal of the year, while Somerville picked up his first career assist.
Virginia finishes the regular season with home ACC contests against No. 13 Boston College at 7 p.m. Saturday and NC State on Nov. 3. With 10 points in ACC play, UVa stands in a fourth-place tie with Duke and leads BC by one point. The top four teams in the final conference standings receive home-field advantage in the ACC tournament.