Men’s Soccer: Virginia rallies from early 2-0 deficit, defeats American U., 4-2

The American U. soccer team jumped out to a 2-0 lead 13 minutes in, but Virginia rallied to tie the match early in the second half, and broke away a little later to notch a 4-2 win on Tuesday at Klöckner Stadium.

The Cavaliers (6-4-3) faced an early 1-0 deficit as American (3-5-5) took advantage of a quick-developing chance following a throw in. After an impressive one-on-one save from Joey Batrouni, Toshi Davis directed a rebound into the back of the UVA net with just over five minutes played in the game.

In the 13th minute, the American lead grew to two. Following a high American press, Samuel Hershey was played in with only Batrouni to beat and finished his chance for 2-0.

Facing its largest deficit of the season, Virginia responded in the 18th minute from a corner kick. Paul Wiese sent an in-swinging ball to a dangerous area where it was deflected by the goalkeeper and headed home by Nick Dang.

In a lightning-quick start to the second half, Danny Mangarov played an intelligent ball into the penalty area for David Okorie to cut back to Kome Ubogu. With a perfectly placed one-touch effort, Ubogu lifted his shot into the back of the net and the Cavaliers were back on level terms just 2:29 into the second half.

Five minutes later, Virginia had its third. An intricate piece of passing saw Mangarov find Ubogu in the penalty area. Ubogu played it through to Grant Howard, and with one touch, Howard put a low cross to the feet of Luke Burns, who scored to give Virginia a 3-2 lead.

Just past the hour mark, Virginia netted its fourth as Albin Gashi played Alex Parvu down the right wing. With a swing of the right leg, Parvu picked out the run of Ubogu, who headed it past the goalkeeper to seal the 4-2 win for the Cavaliers.

“I would have to think back to remember the last time we went down two goals and won the game, so I give us a lot of credit for that,” Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. “The changes we made at halftime, to be honest with you, resulted in goals. Alex Parvu, Luke Burns and David Okorie were instrumental in setting up those goals and that’s what you want.”

Up next: Virginia will be back in action on Saturday when the ‘Hoos host Syracuse at Klöckner Stadium. Kickoff at is set for 7 p.m. on ACCNX.