No. 15 Virginia Falls to Loyola Marymount in 3-1 Defeat

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia men’s soccer team (1-1) suffered its first defeat of the new season falling to Loyola Marymount (1-0-1) by a score of 3-1 on Sunday night (Aug. 27) at Klöckner Stadium.

Goals (Assists):
2’ LMU — Kingsford (Prado)
15’ LMU — Clutton (Prado)
28’ Virginia – Afonso (PK)
88’ LMU — Kingsford (Quintero, Ortiz)

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Loyola Marymount threw the first punch early on. With just over a minute played in the match, LMU’s Jovan Prado whipped a cross into the Virginia penalty area where Ryan Kingsford tapped it home.
• The Lions doubled their advantage fourteen minutes later when another low cross fired in from Prado was punched out by a diving Joey Batrouni in goal. However, LMU’s Lewis Clutton found himself in the right position to capitalize on the rebound, giving the Lions a 2-0 lead.
• The Cavaliers responded quickly, tilting the scales of possession back in their favor. Throughout a positive stretch of Cavalier pressure, Virginia took multiple quality chances as Danny Mangarov and Stephen Annor both put attempts just wide of the post.
• With the game approaching the half-hour mark, Mouhameth Thiam was brought down inside the LMU area as the referee signaled for a Virginia penalty. Leo Afonso capitalized from the spot to cut the lead to 2-1 headed into the break.
• After a scoreless 30 minutes to start the second half, LMU struck for a third time as Ryan Kingsford fired home his second of the night following a mistake at the back for Virginia.
• The Lions had a chance to score a fourth when the referee whistled for an LMU penalty kick in the 89^th minute of play. However, Jovan Prado’s attempt from the spot was denied by Batrouni.

FROM HEAD COACH GEORGE GELNOVATCH
“We didn’t deserve to win. They were a physical, strong, athletic team that came in and took advantage of some big mistakes that we made early in the game. When you play a team like that, you gift them some goals in the early moments, then you’re fighting off your back. And that’s definitely what happened. It’s early in the season. We’re better for it, we learn from it, and we’ll get ready for Thursday.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

• Joey Batrouni and Jack Singer each made their first starts as Cavaliers
• Leo Afonso scored his first goal of the 2023 campaign
• Virginia commanded 65 percent of possession in the match
• The Cavaliers took 11 shots compared to LMU’s 17
• Four of Virginia’s shot attempts were put on frame while LMU landed seven on target
• The loss snaps a nine-game unbeaten streak for the Cavaliers dating back to the 2022 season
• Batrouni made 4 saves in his Cavalier debut
• A total of eight players were assessed yellow cards (LMU: 5, UVA: 3)

Up Next:

Virginia is back in action Thursday (Aug. 31) as the Cavaliers welcome George Mason to Klöckner Stadium for an 8 p.m. kickoff. The match will feature as the second half of a Virginia soccer doubleheader as the women’s team takes on West Virginia at 6 p.m.