Virginia rolls to 3-0 win in spring opener

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Virginia (4-4-1) scored all three of its goals in the first half as it secured a 3-0 win over George Mason (0-2) on Tuesday (March 2) at Klöckner Stadium.

Sophomore Kevin Ogudugu (Oslo, Norway) scored his first goal as a Cavalier and also recorded an assist on the game-winning goal.

The first two Cavalier scores came in the first 10:48 of the match. Sophomore Axel Gunnarsson (Gothenburg, Sweden) was on the receiving end of well-orchestrated passing sequence started by Oliver Gerbig (Taipei, Taiwan). The long strike from Gerbig in the eighth minute was played down the right side to Ogudugu who found a streaking Gunnarsson in the middle of the field for the first UVA goal.

The tally for Gunnarsson was his third of the year and fifth of his career. He’s scored in consecutive games dating back to his equalizer in in the 85th minute of the ACC semifinal match against Clemson on Nov. 18, 2020.

A little under three minutes later, Virginia built a 2-0 advantage on Ogudugu’s first goal in a Virginia uniform. The sophomore ran down a long pass served by Andreas Ueland (Bryne, Norway) from near midfield and beat the Patriot goaltender one-on-one. The Cavaliers made it 3-0 in the 34th minute when Nick Berghold (Wingdale, N.Y.) headed in a corner kick service on the back post by Jeremy Verley (Kingston, Jamaica).

“Great win, it’s always good to score three goals and have a clean sheet,” head coach George Gelnovatch said. “It’s a great starting point for opening up the spring. The big takeaway for this game is the way we started. The game, particularly in the first half, had great energy. (We) got a lot of young guys that started the game and a lot of the young guys onto the field (in the match).”

The shutout was Virginia’s third of the 2020-21 season and the second on the ledger for goalkeeper Alex Rando (New York, N.Y.). The redshirt freshman made three saves and earned his second victory of the season.

The Cavaliers will begin the ACC portion of its 2020-21 spring schedule on Sunday (March 7) when they host Notre Dame at Klöckner Stadium. The two teams squared off in South Bend in the fall and the Irish came away with a 2-1, double-overtime victory. Sunday’s game will air live on ACCNX with a scheduled start time of 1 p.m.