No. 24 UVA Men’s Soccer Beats No. 25 Wake Forest 1-0, Grabs ACC Lead
Forest #Forest
The Cavaliers knocked off the Demon Deacons on Senior night to vault themselves to the top of the ACC standings
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When the Cavaliers suffered a few early season setbacks – like the 1-0 loss to Xavier in the season-opener or a 6-1 blowout loss against Maryland in Washington D.C. – the idea that the Cavaliers could end up contending for an ACC title by the end of the season was probably the furthest thing from their minds.
But here they are.
Behind a second-half goal from Leo Afonso, the No. 24 Virginia men’s soccer team knocked off No. 25 Wake Forest 1-0 on Saturday night at Klockner Stadium, thrusting the Cavaliers into first place in the ACC Coastal division and into a tie for first with Syracuse atop the overall ACC standings.
Virginia honored its senior class before the start of the final home match of the regular season, a match that began with a scoreless first half despite the two teams combining to take ten total shots. The Demon Deacons outshot the Cavaliers 7-3 in the first half and 15-7 overall, but only three of those shots went on goal and Holden Brown saved all three.
Brown also played a key role in starting the offensive set that resulted in Virginia’s game-winning goal. In the 63rd minute, the UVA goalkeeper boomed a goal kick that reached midfield and was headed along to Philip Horton. After taking a few dribbles to work past a Wake defender, Horton sent a perfect through ball to a cutting Leo Afonso, who immediately took a left-footed shot that went past goalkeeper Trace Alphin and into the back left corner of the net for his sixth goal of the season, tied for the most on the team.
Holden Brown and the Virginia defense held on for the remaining minutes to secure Brown’s 7th shutout of the season.
The win gives Virginia sole possession of first place in the ACC Coastal division and puts the Hoos in a tie with Syracuse at the top of the entire conference standings with 16 points. The Cavaliers own the tiebreaker by virtue of their 1-0 win over the Orange on September 24th at Syracuse.
If Virginia (9-4-2, 5-1-1 ACC) wins the final match of the regular season against North Carolina, the Cavaliers will clinch at least a share of the ACC regular season title and secure the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament.
UVA will play at North Carolina in the regular season finale on Friday, October 28th at 7pm in Chapel Hill.
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