Men’s Soccer: UVA’s win streak reaches five with 3-0 victory over Syracuse

By Colin Moore
JerryRatcliffe.com correspondent

Virginia played in a very physical match on Saturday night at Klöckner Stadium against Syracuse, coming away with a 3-0 victory, its fifth in a row. A total of 37 fouls were called in the match between both teams, indicating the physicality.

The veteran Cavaliers were able to manage the tempo and play their style of soccer, which led to numerous opportunities as well as timely defensive tackles. Umberto Pelà and Albin Gashi played the entire 90 minutes tremendously hard like usual, encouraging the team to play some of the best soccer of the season.

HOW IT HAPPENED

With a slow first five minutes playing on the defensive side, Virginia (7-4-3, 3-2-2 ACC) got the opening goal in the 10th minute. This opportunity was created when Victor Akoum was able to collect the ball near midfield and turn a defender to get a Syracuse player on his hip. Akoum then took advantage of his space by dribbling the ball towards the top of the box before releasing a laser of a shot from just outside the box for his first goal of the season.

Another goal moments later came from a UVA corner. The corner was originally taken by Paul Wiese, who played the ball to the far post. The ball bounced around before Nick Dang played the ball back to Gashi, who sent a one-time through ball to Daniel Mangarov running behind the back line. Mangarov then played the ball on the ground across the face of the goal, where Joaquin Brizuela ran onto the pass and put the ball away for Virginia’s second goal of the match.

Syracuse (6-5-3, 1-3-2 ACC) was able to generate a few chances late in the half, but Joey Batrouni was able to keep his clean sheet. Dang and Akoum were dominant in the back line by winning numerous tackles and also making great decisions with the ball in their defensive third.

The Hoos came out with the same intensity that they ended the first half, generating some early chances. They were able to break through just 13 minutes into the second half in the 58th minute, when Mangarov set up a beautiful set piece. Mangarov served the ball into the box towards Dang, who was making a run towards the face of goal. Dang attempted to flick on a header towards the goal but the flick hit a Syracuse defender ultimately landing back at Dang’s foot wide open for his 6th goal of the season.

“It’s great to get 3 or 4 goals from center backs from set pieces, so no, I never thought I would have a center back leading the team in scoring,” said UVA head coach George Gelnovatch.

Syracuse went down to 10 men in the 65th minute when Sam Layton picked up his second yellow card of the match, resulting in a red card. The Cavaliers were able to possess the ball even more and allowed them to see out the remainder of the match with very few chances for Syracuse.

GOALS
UVA: 10’ – Victor Akoum
UVA: 16’ – Joaquin Brizuela (Daniel Mangarov, Paul Wiese)
UVA: 58’ – Nick Dang (Daniel Mangarov)

ADDITIONAL NOTES
Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• Virginia is 4-0 when scoring at least two goals in 2024
• Victor Akoum and Danny Mangarov each scored their first career goals in the match
• Nick Dang scored his sixth goal of the season to lead the team
• Dang’s goal tally is the most among all defenders in NCAA Division I
• Danny Mangarov delivered a career-high two assists
• The Cavaliers kept their fifth clean sheet of the season and have shutout three of their last four opponents
• Virginia has scored three or more goals in four games this season
• The Cavaliers are 5-0-0 when scoring at least two goals in a game this season

WITH THE WIN…

• Virginia improves to 6-2-3 all-time against the Orange and are unbeaten in their last four meetings against Syracuse.
• The Cavaliers increase their winning streak to five consecutive games, the first run of five straight wins since the 2019 season
• Virginia’s five-game winning streak is the third-longest active streak in NCAA Division I

UP NEXT

The Cavaliers travel to face Pitt on Friday at 7 p.m. in the ACC regular-season finale. The final home match is Wednesday, Oct. 30, against Mary Washington at 3 p.m.