Donasiyano Scores Twice in Shutout Win over Pacific

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Junior Irakoze Donasiyano (Roanoke, Va.) scored twice in a 2-0, season-opening win for No. 12 Virginia (1-0) against Pacific (0-1) on Friday night (Aug. 30) at Klöckner Stadium. The Cavaliers have now won six straight season-openers.
 
Donasiyano, who came into the match with just one career goal, scored twice in the span of five minutes. In the closing minutes of the first half, Donasiyano corralled a deflection off of Axel Gunnarsson (Gothenburg, Sweden) and fired a shot into the lower left corner to make the score 1-0 with 1:30 remaining in the first stanza. He gave the Cavaliers a two-goal lead when Daryl Dike (Edmond, Okla.) centered a perfect pass to the middle of the six-yard box that Donasiyano was able to one-touch past Pacific goalkeeper Ethan Bandre.

Irakoze Donasiyano scores both goals in a 2-0 season-opening win over Pacific! #GoHoos

🚨Goal cam alert ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/4IUXMQ91Lg

— Virginia Men’s Soccer (@UVAMenSoccer) August 31, 2019

Dike was credited with two assists on the night, also doubling his career total.
 
Like last season, the Cavaliers began their 2019 campaign with a shutout. Goalkeeper Colin Shulter (Middleburg, Va.) made four saves and faced a total of 12 Pacific shots. The clean sheet for Shutler was the ninth of his career after finishing the 2018 season with the second most in the ACC (8).
 
Virginia held a 14-12 advantage in shots and a 5-2 edge in corner kicks in the match.
 
The “Battle for the DMV” is next for Virginia on Monday, Sept. 2. The Cavaliers will travel to Washington, D.C. for the second-straight season to square off against former ACC rival and defending National Champion Maryland. The game will be played at Audi Field, the home of DC United and is slated for a 6 p.m. start.
 
Additional Notes
• Virginia improved to 18-6 in season-opening games under George Gelnovatch.
• Friday marked the 28^th anniversary of the opening of Klöckner Stadium. The Cavaliers took on another West Coast Conference school, Santa Clara, 28 years ago in an exhibition that drew 6,142 fans. Virginia and Santa Clara had squared in two of the three prior National Championship games.
• Donasiyano is the first multi-goal scorer on opening day since Tony Tchani found the back of the net against Portland on Sept. 4, 2009.
• Friday’s match snapped a 10-year streak of one-goal games on opening day for Virginia.
• Freshmen Andreas Ueland (Byrne, Norway), Gunnarsson, Jeremy Verley (Kingston, Jamaica) and Philip Horton (New Albany, Ohio) all made their collegiate debuts in the match. Ueland was the only Cavalier first year to play all 90 minutes.