Virginia Falls to No. 11 Maryland in Hard-Fought Match at Audi Field

WASHINGTON, D.C – Virginia (2-1-0) fell 2-1 against No. 11 Maryland (4-0-0) at Audi Field in the third annual ‘Battle of the DMV.’ Freshman forward Michael Tsicoulias netted his first collegiate goal in the first half.

GOALS 

26’ – UVA: Michael Tsicoulias (Paul Wiese)

61’ – UMD: Ben Bender (Unassisted)

78’ – UMD: Brayan Padilla (Griffin Dillon, Chris Rindov)

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Virginia defender Paul Wiese sent in a pass to Tsicoulias in the box. Tsicoulias dribbled past a Maryland defender and struck a left-footed shot past the keeper’s outstretched arms.
• Maryland midfielder Ben Bender converted a penalty in the 61st minute, striking it in the bottom right corner of the goal.
• Maryland forward Brayan Padilla launched a left-footed strike from outside the box, just past the reach of UVA goalkeeper Holden Brown. Griffin Dillon and Chris Rindov assisted on the goal.

MATCH NOTES

• UVA and Maryland now hold a 1-1-1 record in the ‘Battle for the DMV’ series.
• UVA has had four different players score in its first three matches.
• Holden Brown set a career high in saves with nine against the Terrapins.
• The defensive trio of Brown, Andreas Ueland, and Oliver Gerbig have played all 270 regular season minutes for the Cavaliers.
• Daniel Wright was sent off in the 44th minute after receiving his second yellow card of the match.

FROM HEAD COACH GEORGE GELNOVATCH

On Holden Brown’s performance:

“[Holden Brown] is growing every game, just in his confidence and his presence, the qualities of saves that he’s making, the decisions that he’s making. With each game he gets a bit more confident, and I think this game will help.” 

On his thoughts on the game:

“It was a very good game for 44 minutes, it’s hard to play down a man. Maryland is a very good team, and it is hard to play down a man against a good team. For 44 minutes it was an even game, well contested game and actually a very good game. So, I give them credit for a really good second goal, that was a quality shot from distance for the winner. I thought we defended really well and we’re doing a pretty good job in that regard and the guy [Brayan Padilla] finished that goal really well.”

UP NEXT

Virginia will return to Klöckner Stadium on Friday, September 10 to face Syracuse, its first ACC opponent of the season. The match is set for a 7 p.m. kick and will air on ACCNX.