Virginia got a pair of goals in a six-minute stretch of the first half to take control, and cruised from there to a 3-0 win over Syracuse on Saturday night at Klöckner Stadium.
The Cavaliers (7-4-3, 3-2-2 ACC) have now won five straight.
At the 10-minute mark, Victor Akoum made a long run on the ball as space opened up in front of him. Just feet outside the 18-yard box, the sophomore unleashed a rocked to the near post to give Virginia an early 1-0 lead.
Six minutes later, Paul Wiese played Danny Mangaov in behind the Syracuse defense. Mangarov put his low cross right to the feet of Joaquìn Brizuela, who tapped it home for 2-0. The Cavaliers would take that advantage into the halftime break.
As the game approached the hour mark, Mangarov stood over a free kick from 15 yards outside the penalty area. He lifted his attempt into a dangerous area just outside the six-yard-box. After it was knocked down by a Syracuse defender, Nick Dang was there to blast it past the goalkeeper to all but seal the game for Virginia at 3-0.
Minutes later, Syracuse’s Sam Layton was shown a second yellow card putting the Orange (6-5-3, 1-3-2 ACC) down to 10 men with just over 20 minutes remaining.
Virginia would go on to secure its third clean sheet in four games sealing the 3-0 victory.
“What our team has done over these past five games has been really impressive,” UVA coach George Gelnovatch said. “For what we went through to where we are now, I give a lot of credit to our team. This win was a great win from start to finish. We scored early, the game played out tactically the way we thought it would, and guys executed. Then in the second half, getting that third goal and taking control of the game was really important, and our guys did a great job.”
Up next: the Cavaliers will be back in action on Friday when they travel to No. 4 Pitt at Ambrose Urbanic Field. Kickoff at is set for 7 p.m. on ACCNX.
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Chris Graham
