Virginia captain Marco Dos Santos scored in the ninth minute, and the ‘Hoos made it stand up for a 1-0 victory over Cal on Friday night at Klöckner Stadium.
Parker Sloan played Dos Santos into the penalty area, where the fourth-year fired the ball past the keeper with a left-footed strike to give the Cavaliers (6-5-1, 3-2 ACC) the lead.
UVA keeper Caleb Tunks denied Cal’s only on-target attempt in the first half while the ‘Hoos defended six Cal corner kicks.
The Cavaliers withstood moments of pressure from Cal (4-4-3, 1-3-1 ACC), but outshot the Golden Bears by a margin of 9-4 in the second half. Virginia outshot California 16-9 on the night
“I’ve said this before, but winning in the ACC is one of the hardest things to do in college soccer, and tonight was no different,” Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. “I give them a lot of credit. They’re a very good team and have some very good players, and we knew this would be a tough game.
“Now, having said that, I think we should have scored another goal or two to take the pressure off us a little bit,” Gelnovatch said. “But most importantly, other than not scoring the second goal, this was probably the most complete game we’ve played in terms of all phases: transition forward, transition back, defending the box, shutout, and chance creation.”
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Chris Graham
