Men’s Soccer: UVA knocks off top-ranked Wake Forest, 6-3

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Sparked by a first-half brace from freshman Nick Simmonds, Virginia erupted for a 6–3 win over No. 1 Wake Forest on Friday night at Klöckner Stadium, marking the Cavaliers’ first victory against a top-ranked opponent since 2019.

GOALS
10’ – UVA: Simmonds (Dos Santos, Pelà)
18’ – UVA: Simmonds (De Vicente)
33’ – UVA: Tandjigora (Parvu)
39’ – UVA: Pop (De Vicente)
61’ – UVA: Burns (Parvu, Beauvois)
75’ – WF: Umar
79’ – WF: Umar (Rabiu)
88’ – WF: Own Goal
89’ – UVA: Oulouheu (Okorie)

HOW IT HAPPENED

Virginia (5-1-1, 2-0-1 ACC) started the game on the front foot logging the first five shots of the game. The Cavaliers would break open the scoring in the 10th minute when Umberto Pela and Marco Dos Santos combined to play Nick Simmonds into the penalty area. The freshman lifted his attempt over a diving goalkeeper to give the Cavaliers the early lead.

Simmonds would net a brace in under 20 minutes of play when in the 18th Jesus De Vicente evaded a trio of Wake Forest defenders to play Simmonds in on goal. With a touch onto his right foot, the freshman rifled his chance into the back of the net for 2-0.

Bacary Tandjigora became the second Virginia freshman to score in the game. After Alex Parvu whipped a cross into the penalty area that was deflected off a Wake Forest defender for Tandjigora to run on and fire into the back of the net. Six minutes later, Sebastian Pop notched his first collegiate goal off a Cavalier corner kick to give Virginia a 4-0 lead going into the half.

In the 61st minute of play, Luke Burns recorded his second goal in as many games off a Cavalier counterattack, Triton Beauvois switched the field to Parvu, who played the ball back to Burns. Burns thundered his chance into the back of the net, rooting the Wake Forest goalkeeper to his spot.

Wake Forest (4-1-3, 0-1-1) scored the next three goals of the match within 12 minutes of each other before Virginia slammed the door closed as Sami Oulouheu notched the first goal of his career off a counterattack.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• Nick Simmonds recorded the first multi-goal game of his career
• Sami Oulouheu recorded the first goal of his collegiate career in the 89th minute
• Virginia scored six goals in a match for the first time since a 6-1 win over St. Mary’s in 2012
• The Cavaliers scored six goals against an ACC opponent for the first time since a 6-1 win over NC State in 2000.
• Jesus De Vicente marked his first multi-assist game as a Cavalier and the fourth of his career.
• Alex Parvu notched a career-high with two assists
• Sebastian Pop logged the first goal of his Cavalier career
• Stephen Hurlock made his first collegiate appearance registering one shot on goal 

WITH THE WIN …

• The Cavaliers knock off the No. 1-ranked team for the first time since 2019 when the Cavaliers defeated Clemson 3-1 in the ACC Championship game
• UVA improves to a record of 9-8-5 all time against No.1-ranked teams
• The 6-3 win marks UVA’s largest margin of victory over a top-ranked opponent
• Since 2022 Virginia has earned 13 positive results (win or draw) against top 10 opposition – over that stretch, UVA is 4-0-1 against top-10 teams at Klöckner Stadium
• The Cavaliers remain perfect at home improving to 4-0

FROM HEAD COACH GEORGE GELNOVATCH

“Kind of what I said to the team, 65-70 minutes of that game was exceptional, the way we played, with the ball, creating chances defensively. We pay a lot of attention to the details on how we do things defensively, and the guys executed superbly…The approach was to be aggressive, put things on top of them, and make it really tough on them, squeeze the field. We saw that right away. The goals were not half-hazard, no balls pinning around in front of the goal; they were great, great executed goals “

UP NEXT

The Cavaliers will be back in action on Tuesday when they host Dayton at Klöckner Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.