Cavaliers Rally for 2-1 Win Over West Virginia

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — AJ Smith’s career night was the difference in a game that saw Virginia (11-6-3) overcome an early deficit to defeat West Virginia (13-2-7) on Sunday night (Nov. 24) at Klöckner Stadium. The Cavaliers opened their NCAA Men’s Soccer Championship run with a victory and advance to the third round for the second consecutive season.

Goals (Assist)
3’ West Virginia – Caldiera (Carlson)
6’ Virginia – Gashi (Smith)
33’ Virginia – Smith (Lambe, Mangarov)

How it Happened:

• The Mountaineers opened the scoring quickly when in the third minute of play a corner sent into the box and headed across the face of goal by Simon Carlson, for Marcus Calderia to volley into the roof of the net to put Virginia a goal down early.
• Three minutes later, Virginia had its answer. A long ball sent over the top from Nick Dang was headed along by AJ Smith for Albin Gashi to run on with only the goalkeeper to beat. A sliding effort by West Virginia’s Marc Bonnaire got a piece of the ball causing Gashi to go to ground. Falling to the turf, Gashi connected with a swing of the left foot to send the ball into an open goal and put Virginia back on level terms at 1-1

• Just past the half-hour mark, Virginia nudged itself in front. Danny Mangarov was fouled while playing a ball over his head. With the referee playing advantage, Brendan Lamb collected the ball and raced down the left wing. With a low cross along the face of goal, Lambe found Smith who tapped it home to put the Cavaliers up 2-1.

• The Cavaliers stood tall defensively in the second half facing eight attempts at goal while Batrouni snuffed out all three on frame. Virginia would hold on to seal the comeback victory by a score of 2-1 and advance to the third round. 

From Head Coach George Gelnovatch:
“That was a great playoff win against a very good West Virginia team. When the final RPI came out at the end of the season after all the tournaments were played, they were sixteenth. We just played what I think was one of the top teams in this tournament in our first game and we did a great job of handling it. We did a great job handling giving up an early goal too.”

With the Win:

• Virginia advances to the third round of the NCAA Men’s Soccer Championship for the second consecutive season
• UVA records its first come-from-behind victory in the NCAA Men’s Soccer Championship since a 2-1 overtime win over Vermont (11/20/2016)
• The Cavaliers record their third comeback victory of the season and their second in the postseason
• The Cavaliers improve to 6-3 all-time against West Virginia

Additional Notes:

• AJ Smith scored his second career goal and first career game-winner
• Smith recorded a career-high, three points on the night
• Smith’s assist was the first of his Cavalier career
• Albin Gashi recorded his first goal since scoring in a 2-1 win over Virginia Tech (10/4)
• West Virginia’s goal in the third minute was the quickest of any Virginia opponent this season
• A total of 10 different Cavaliers have recorded game-winning goals in 2024

Up Next:
The Cavaliers advance to the third round of the 2024 NCAA Men’s Soccer Championship where they will host UMass on either Saturday (Nov. 30) or Sunday (Dec. 1) on ESPN+.