CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Four different Cavaliers scored on the night as Virginia (1-2) earned its first win of the season, a 4-0 triumph over American (0-2-1) on Friday night (Aug. 28) at Klöckner Stadium. AJ Smith matched a career-high in points with one goal and one assist while Prince Abanfo and Chase Duke both registered goal involvements in their first career starts.
Goals (Assist)
17’ UVA – Smith (Lambe)
20’ UVA – Abanfo (Duke, Smith)
43’ UVA – Pop (Burns, Lambe)
81’ UVA – Dos Santos (PK)
Virginia was dominant on the ball in the early going and struck in quick succession as Brendan Lambe found Smith in the penalty area who calmly turned and scored his first goal of the season. Minutes later, Smith played Duke in behind the American defense where he made the extra pass to Abanfo in the penalty area where he scored the first goal of his career in his first-ever collegiate start.
Virginia added to its lead minutes before halftime when a shot from Luke Burns took a deflection from Sebastian Pop and trickled over the line for 3-0. The Cavaliers took 10 shots in the opening 45 minutes while landing seven on frame.
The Cavaliers outshot American by a margin of 8-2 in the second half and added a fourth goal after Burns drew a foul in the box to earn a Virginia penalty. Marco Dos Santos stepped up and delivered from the spot to cap an emphatic victory. Spencer Sanderson also made a spectacular effort on the goal line to preserve Virginia’s first clean sheet of the season as well as the first of Sanderson’s career.
Additional Notes:
- Prince Abanfo, and Chase Duke made their first career starts
- AJ Smith tied a career-high with 3 points (1g, 1a)
- Prince Abanfo scored his first career goal
- Chase Duke tallied his first career assist
- Brendan Lambe tallied two assists on the night and leads the team with three on the season
- Lambe’s three assists on the year have already surpassed a single-season career high (1)
- Dos Santos logged his second goal of the season to lead the team
- Luke Burns registered his first assist of the season
- Spencer Sanderson made two saves and logged his first career clean sheet
- Sebastian Pop scored his first goal of the season and the third of his career
- Virginia’s seven goals on the season have been scored by six different players
- UVA improves to 21-4 in the all-time series with American
- UVA outshot the Eagles 18-4 on the night
What They Said:
“It feels good…If you count preseason games, this was our sixth game, and we’ve played well in every one of them. Today we just tightened up a few things, we made a few adjustments to the defensive piece of things and put a complete performance together.” – Head Coach George Gelnovatch
“The coaches and the whole team wanted a reaction from the two losses, and the mindset was just to come into this game and be killers. I think the group did a really good job of that today and got the three points…getting two goals in the first 20 minutes was really good.” – AJ Smith
“It feels good…coming back from injury during the summer was a long journey for me, and scoring in my first college start…I mean, what more could I ask for? …The mindset was just to help out the team and do whatever it takes to win because that’s all we needed.” – Prince Abanfo
Up Next:
The Cavaliers will be back in action on Monday (Aug. 31) when they host FGCU at Klöckner Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. on ACC Network Extra (ACCNX).