The No. 11 Virginia men’s soccer team scored four goals in a nine-minute span in the first half to break open a scoreless match and roll to a 7-1 win over Richmond Monday evening in front of 1,786 spectators in the home opener at Klöckner Stadium. UVa also scored three goals in a 12-minute period of the second half.
“We played well tonight and were probably a little wounded after our last game (against West Virginia),” Virginia head coach George Gelnovatch said. “Give Richmond and coach Clint Peay credit. They played very hard.”
Will Bates scored a pair of goals and dished out two assists for Virginia (1-1-0) as he tied a career high with his six-point effort. UVa received goals from six others in rolling to the win.
True freshman Spencer LaCivita earned his first career win in goal after stopping four shots. Richmond goalkeeper Thomas Hand made eight saves. LaCivita was one of five UVa freshmen in the starting lineup and one of 11 who saw 10 or minutes of action Monday.
Virginia held a dominating 28-8 edge in shots, including a 16-5 advantage in shots on goal. Both teams attempted five corner kicks.
The teams played 27 scoreless minutes before the Cavaliers broke loose for four goals in a wild nine-minute span. Brian Span started the scoring after a great cross into the box from Bates and finished by ripping it past Hand. Just over four minutes later, Ari Dimas cranked from 25 yards out and perfectly placed it in the far left corner to push the lead to 2-0.
UVa scored 53 seconds later, as Bates lofted a cross across the box to freshman Chris Somerville, who powered home his shot from six yards out for his first career goal. Richmond (0-1-0) answered just 43 seconds later as Timmy Albright headed in a corner kick from Spencer Schiff, but UVa quickly quashed the UR momentum with another goal just over two minutes later. After Bates was pulled down in the box in the 36th minute, he was awarded a penalty kick and calmly finished it to push the UVa lead to 4-1.
UVa went 20 minutes without a goal in the second half before scoring three times in just under 12 minutes. After a great lead pass from Dimas, Bates broke away and dribbled around the goalkeeper before tapping in his second goal of the evening in the 66th minute. After a host of substitutions, the Cavalier reserves got into the act as freshman Kyle McCord, on his first career shot, slipped a goal just inside the right post off an assist from fellow rookie Calvin Rezende.
UVa concluded its scoring onslaught in the 78th minute when McCord crossed to Felipe Libreros, who touched it past Hand for the goal.
Virginia will compete in the Hilton Garden Hokie Invitational this weekend in Blacksburg. UVa will battle Cincinnati at 5 p.m. Friday before matching up with Wisconsin at noon Sunday.
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Chris Graham
