Virginia Falls to Notre Dame in Final Seconds

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Despite an immense advantage in possession and shots, the Virginia men’s soccer team (4-3-0) fell to Notre Dame (2-2-1) by a score of 2-1 on Friday night (Sept. 16) at Klöckner Stadium.

Goals (Assists)

67’ – Notre Dame: Virginia Own Goal
89’ – Virginia: Kome Ubogu (Unassisted)
90’ – Notre Dame: KK Baffour (Matthew Roou)

HOW IT HAPPENED:  

Throughout the first half, the Cavaliers dominated play. While controlling 58-percent of possession, Virginia routinely won first and second balls with suffocating pressure high up the field.

Virginia took seven shots in the opening frame compared to just four from Notre Dame. The Cavaliers’ best chance of the half came off a free kick from Daniel Mangarov. An arching ball into the penalty area found the head of Moritz Kappelsberger whose shot ricocheted off the crossbar. Andreas Ueland followed up with a pair of attempts that were saved by the diving Notre Dame goalkeeper.

The second half was more of the same as Virginia kept its stranglehold on possession. However, in the 68^th minute, a Notre Dame corner kick deflected off a Cavalier and trickled into the net to give the Irish a one-goal lead against the run of play.

Virginia pushed on for an equalizer launching attacks deep in Notre Dame territory but fell just short of unlocking the Irish defense. Kappelsberger, Andreas Ueland and Phil Horton each were denied by the woodwork and tough defensive play from Notre Dame as Virginia took six shots in the final ten minutes while placing five on target.

In the 89^th minute, substitute striker Kome Ubogu came through for Virginia. Off an in-swinging corner kick, Ueland headed a ball back into the area. Amidst a mob of players, Ubogu emerged after poking home the equalizing goal.

Virginia pushed numbers forward for a corner kick with just over a minute remaining. After losing possession just outside the penalty area, Notre Dame struck with a lethal counter-attack to snatch the win with just nine seconds remaining in the game.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

• Virginia outshot Notre Dame 20-8, the Cavaliers have outshot their opponents 122-53 this season
• Virginia held a 9-3 corner kick advantage over Notre Dame
• The Cavaliers possessed the ball for 60-percent of the match while spending 59-percent of that time in Notre Dame’s half of the field
• Andreas Ueland led all players with a career-high six shots, while placing three on target
• Kome Ubogu scored his fourth goal of the season, he is now tied with Leo Afsono in goals scored for the Cavaliers this season
• Eight players saw yellow cards in the match, as each team picked up four
• Virginia forced seven saves out of Notre Dame goalkeeper Bryan Dowd
• Leo Afonso continues to lead the ACC in total shots with 32
• The Cavaliers fall to 1-1 in ACC play this season

FROM HEAD COACH GEORGE GELNOVATCH

“Really, really tough loss for us. I would say really unlucky…Notre Dame is always a hard team to break down. I give them a lot of credit for how they defend in the box, but we showed a really good fight. A good fight to get the equalizer against a team that was very resolute in defending. We don’t deserve this loss today. We’ll learn from it and move on.” 

Up Next:

The Cavaliers will return to Klöckner Stadium on Tuesday (Sept. 20) where they will face off with American. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.