Beauvois Lifts Virginia Over No. 18 Clemson With Late Winner

CLEMSON, S.C. – The Virginia men’s soccer team (8-4-1, 4-1-1 ACC) defeated the reigning national champions No. 18 Clemson (9-3-1, 2-2-1 ACC) on Saturday night (Oct. 15) at Historic Riggs Field thanks to a late game-winning goal from freshman Triton Beauvois.

Goals (Assists)
37’ – Virginia: Kome Ubogu (Leo Afonso)
68’ – Clemson: Mohamed Seye (Alvaro Gomez)
78’ – Virginia: Triton Beauvois (Paul Wiese)

HOW IT HAPPENED:
Virginia spent the majority of the first half absorbing pressure from Clemson as the Tigers rallied off 10 shots compared to Virginia’s three in the first half an hour of play.

A pivotal moment occurred for Virginia with just over 30 minutes played. After Clemson won the ball in the midfield area, the break was on for the Tigers. Just as the ball entered the Virginia 18-yard box, senior captain Andreas Ueland snuffed out the chance with a trademarked sliding tackle executed to perfection.

Though the Cavaliers did not dominate the possession game in the first half, Virginia proved deadly on the counter-attack when in the 37^th minute Albin Gashi won a ball in the midfield with nothing but space in front of him. Carrying the ball high up the field, Gashi released Leo Afonso down the right wing, Afonso rifled a shot on goal that was pushed aside by the Clemson goalkeeper, but a lurking Kome Ubogu tapped the rebound home to open the scoring.

The second half looked like a different game entirely as Virginia grabbed a firm hold on the possession battle early. As Clemson looked to push forward and equalize, the game opened up and took on a frenetic pace with each team making runs deep into its attacking third.

The Cavaliers had an excellent chance to double its lead as Leo Afonso did well to get past his defender with a cut inside the penalty area from the left wing. With a powerful right-footed strike, Afonso crashed a shot hard off the crossbar to be cleared out by Clemson.

Clemson was able to find an equalizing goal in the 68^th minute of play when the Tigers were awarded a free kick deep in Virginia’s defensive end. Clemson’s Mohamed Seye rose up to meet a high-arching ball in and head it past Holden Brown to level the score

The Cavaliers were not prepared to settle for a draw. Just before the 80-minute mark Paul Wiese collected a ball in midfield along the right touchline. After a quick cut inside, Wiese switched the field with a curling ball over the top to release freshman Triton Beauvois as the ball fell perfectly to his feet. With an extra touch inside, Beauvois calmly slotted the ball home to secure all three points for Virginia.

FROM HEAD COACH GEORGE GELNOVATCH

“With an early kickoff at 5:30 it was hot out here for both teams, and I think that caused the game to move a little bit slower. What stands out about this win is that this was not our sharpest performance of the season, but even though it may not have been our best performance, we still found a way to be dangerous and do enough to win the game.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

• Ubogu’s goal is his sixth on the season making him the team’s leading goal scorer despite making each of his appearances this season as a substitute
• Triton Beauvois scored the second goal of his career and his first game-winner
• Beauvois becomes Virginia’s first freshman to record two goals this season
• Leo Afonso recorded his third assist on the season while Paul Wiese tallied his second
• Virginia is 7-0 in games where Afonso registers a point
• Virginia is now 3-2-1 against teams ranked in the top-25 this season
• The Cavaliers move back within one point of Duke atop the ACC coastal division
• Virginia has now held four of the ACC’s premier goal scorers, Nathan Opoku (Syracuse), Bertin Jacquesson (Pitt), Mohammed Shakur (Duke) and Ousmane Sylla (Clemson) without a single point in matches against their respective teams
• The Cavaliers achieved double-digit shot totals for the 12th time in their 13 games this season
• Virginia was outshot by a margin of 22-10
• The Cavaliers improve to 30-25-6 all-time against Clemson
• Virginia is 3-0 on the road this season with each victory coming against ranked opposition

Up Next:

The Cavaliers return home on Tuesday (Oct. 18) to take on Hofstra at Klöckner Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.