Men’s Soccer: #14 UVA defeats #24 Pitt, 1-0, advances to ACC Tournament semifinals

Goalkeeper Holden Brown had a season-high nine saves to preserve a 1-0 shutout for #14 UVA over #24 Pitt in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals on a rainy Sunday evening at Klöckner Stadium.

Brown set the tone for the match early as he came up with a diving stop after Pitt (8-4-5, 3-2-3 ACC) jumped out on the front foot early.

Following the save, Virginia (10-4-3, 5-1-2 ACC) threatened to take the lead itself as Leo Afonso and Axel Ahlander registered a pair of shots coming just short of opening the scoring.

The Cavaliers quickly capitalized on their early chances in the 21st minute. Reese Miller, who scored his first career goal against Pitt earlier this season, found himself in a nearly identical situation.

A low, diagonal ball was played by Mangarov to the feet of Afonso at the top of the box. With an intelligent flick from Afonso into the penalty area, Miller found himself with just the goalkeeper to beat as he fired his chance into the low corner to put the Cavaliers on top.

Virginia’s defense would continue to be tested throughout the match. Just minutes after the Cavaliers grabbed the lead, Pitt’s Michael Sullivan rocketed a shot off the crossbar coming mere inches from leveling the score.

With heavy pressure from the Panthers deep in Virginia’s end of the field, Pitt’s Rodrigo Almeida rifled an effort on goal from outside the penalty area but was denied by Brown. The ricochet fell to Pitt’s Lucas Rosa who again sent a ball towards the net, but Brown punched it away to keep things level for Virginia.

With less than 10 minutes to play, Daniel Mangarov carried the ball across the top of the Pitt penalty area and stroked his shot just wide of the right post to narrowly miss doubling the Virginia lead.

“This was a very professional showing from our guys tonight,” UVA coach George Gelnovatch said. “Pitt is a really good team, and very tough to beat once let alone twice in a season. We did a great job tonight using what we know about them to our advantage and get a win and move on.”