Men’s soccer: UVA season ends in double OT loss at No. 5 Stanford

The UVA men’s soccer team’s 2016 season came to an agonizing conclusion in a 1-0 double-overtime loss at Stanford Sunday evening in a third-round game in the NCAA Tournament at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium in Stanford, Calif. Seeded No. 12 in the tournament, the Cavaliers finish their season with an 11-4-5 record.

The contest was a matchup of the last two national champions – Virginia (2014) and Stanford (2015). The No. 5 seed in the tournament, Stanford (13-3-4) advances to face No. 4 seed Louisville in a quarterfinal match next Saturday.

Stanford scored the game’s lone goal with just over four minutes remaining in the second overtime session. On a long free kick deep into the box, the Cardinal’s Tomas Hillard-Arce challenged UVA goalkeeper Jeff Caldwell (Jr., Todd, N.C.) as he went up to punch the ball away. Hilliard-Arce got a head on the ball while colliding with Caldwell, and Stanford’s Foster Langsdorf dove to head the ball into the back of the net and score the golden goal.

The teams played an entertaining, end-to-end match with high-quality play from both sides, featuring a host of scoring chances and both goalkeepers coming up big to keep the stalemate in check. Caldwell recorded three saves, while Stanford goalkeeper Andrew Epstein stopped all four of UVA’s shots on goal.

Epstein saved a goal in the 34th minute when he made a sensational play to punch away a Paddy Foss (Sr., South Riding, Va.) free kick. Caldwell came up with two big saves in the second half, including a diving stop on a one-on-one situation in the 53rd minute against Jared Gilbey.

UVA’s Pablo Aguilar (R-Jr., Guatemala City, Guatemala) hit the crossbar on a fantastic strike from 30 yards just over four minutes later.

Stanford nearly netted the golden goal in the first minute of overtime, as a Drew Skundrich header hit the inside of the post, but the ball bounced straight out.

Stanford out-shot Virginia, 17-9, but both teams put four shots on goal. UVA earned eight corner kicks, while Stanford took a pair of corners.

The match was the final college game for a trio of Cavaliers – Foss, Nicko Corriveau (Potomac, Md.) and Marcus Salandy-Defour (Kensington, Md.).