Junior midfielder Pablo Aguilar (Guatemala City, Guatemala) hit the game-tying goal in the 86th minute on Tuesday (Oct. 11) night as No. 21 UVA (6-2-4) played Radford (9-2-1) to a 1-1 draw in a physical contest.
The Highlanders took the lead on a late penalty kick, going up by a goal in the 82nd minute before Aguilar hit his equalizer to set up overtime.
The squads then played through two overtime periods with neither side finding the net as the teams played to the draw.
Virginia got its first chance in the 10th minute when Aguilar played a through ball to Edward Opoku (Rye, N.Y.) racing down the near side of the field. Opoku dribbled into the box and took his shot, but it was knocked down by the Radford keeper to hold the Cavaliers off the board.
Neither team could find the net in a defensive first half that closed with the Cavaliers holding a 2-to-1 advantage in shots.
Junior goalkeeper Jeff Caldwell (Todd, N.C.) came up with a tremendous save in the 61st minute as Radford’s Jo Vetle Rimstad headed one from five-yards out. Caldwell leaped and punched the ball up over the crossbar to keep the Highlanders off the board.
The stalemate broke in the 82nd minute when a foul in the box off a corner by the Highlanders set up the penalty kick for Radford. Kieran Roberts converted the kick, giving the visiting team the 1-0 lead on the Cavaliers.
Virginia wasted no time in finding the equalizer as Paddy Foss (South Riding, Va.) sent the ball over to Raheem Taylor-Parkes (Tampa, Fla.), who tapped it in to Aguilar in the box. Aguilar fired the shot from 18 yards out, slipping it in past the keeper and the far post.
Neither team got off a shot in the first overtime period as the defenses continued to play tough. The defense limited chances in the second overtime with Virginia turning away three shots by the Highlanders, while firing off only one shot on the way to the draw.
Virginia will return to action on Friday (Oct. 14), hosting No. 2 Notre Dame at 7 p.m. at Klöckner Stadium.
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Chris Graham
