CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW)- Wake Forest came to Virginia as the top men’s soccer team in the nation. It wouldn’t leave that way.
UVA upset the No. 1 Demon Deacons, 6-3, avenging last season’s ACC tournament loss to Wake.
Virginia striker Nick Simmons received two deft passes, one from his strike partner Marco Dos Santos, and the other from fullback Jesus De Vicente, that played him through on goal. The powerful attacker buried both to earn a brace for UVA inside the first 20 minutes of play.
Alex Parvu’s cross made it 3-0 Virginia courtesy of a clinical finish from another freshman, Bacary Tandjigora.
Grad transfer defender Sebastian Pop earned his first collegiate goal with a headed finish off of a corner in the 39th minute. After a brief break for the halftime interval, Virginia got back to scoring in the 61st minute.
One week after scoring the winner against Louisville, Luke Burns thundered home a Parvu layoff from the edge of the 18-yard box to make it 5-0 Virginia.
Basit Umar earned a brace of his own for Wake Forest to take the clean sheet away, and a Virginia own goal would bring the score to 5-3, before another freshman, Sami Oulouheu, ended the night with a bang with help from a Caspar Mols goal kick.
Only one match remains in September for the Hoos, a cancellation of their match against Dayton allows them a full week to train before they welcome UNC this Saturday at Klockner beginning at 7 p.m.
The Tar Heels drew 1-1 with SMU this past Saturday.
Football
Quarterback Chandler Morris helped Virginia put up nearly 400 yards through the air. Morris threw for four touchdowns, three of them to Trell Harris, as UVA rolled over Stanford 48-20 in its ACC opener.
Defensively, linebacker Kam Robinson’s first game back from a collarbone injury went about as well as it could have, making seven tackles and recovering a fumble leading Virginia’s defense. Stanford Quarterback Ben Gulbranson was sacked five times, an excellent performance by the Virginia defensive line.
The win improved UVA’s mark to 3-0 at home this season and gave it some valuable momentum going into Friday night’s showdown with No. 8 Florida State.
Last week, FSU exceeded the 60-point mark for the second time in as many weeks, thrashing Kent State 66-10.
Women’s Soccer
The now-No. 1 ranked women’s soccer team remained unbeaten, posting its seventh shutout of the season in a 3-0 road win at Syracuse. Midfielder Lia Godfrey finished an Allie Ross layoff into the center of the net to open the scoring for UVA midway through the first half.
Godfrey flexed her passing abilities too with a neat, lofted ball to find Ella Carter at the back post in the 74th minute, allowing the Virginia forward to double their advantage. Maggie Cagle converted a penalty 10 minutes later to put the game to bed and send the Hoos into a Thursday evening road match with Clemson as the No. 1 team in America. The match with the Tigers is scheduled for 7 p.m. on ACCNX. The Tigers are coming off a 1-0 defeat to the Louisville Cardinals this past Friday.
Field Hockey
UVA’s field hockey team had two ranked opponents to deal with over the weekend, and it proved up to the challenge, downing No. 13 Boston College 2-0 on Friday in Charlottesville, before downing No. 4 Syracuse 2-1 on Sunday in upstate New York.
Against the Eagles, the defense held off a late surge in the final 10 minutes, even playing one player down, preserving a 2-0 advantage for UVA. Juniors Emma Watchila and Mia Abello got the goals.
UVA stayed undefeated after an Abello goal and a first collegiate goal from freshman Frederique Vernooij earned the Hoos a 2-1 win over the Orange.
The Cavaliers will hit the West Coast next weekend for matches with California on Friday at 9 p.m., and Stanford on Sunday at 3 p.m. The Golden Bears dropped both matches during their North Carolina road trip this past weekend, falling to UNC 5-1 and Duke 2-0. Stanford also dropped both games against the same two opponents this past weekend, losing to Duke 2-0 and UNC 8-1.
Volleyball
Virginia volleyball headed to Columbus for matches with Ohio State and Troy over the weekend. Friday began slow against Ohio State, with the hosts earning a 10-point victory in set one, before the Hoos took a 2-1 lead following a 25-7 win in set three. The Buckeyes knotted it up in set four before Virginia saw them off in the fifth and final set 15-12. The Hoos had much less trouble with Troy, playing three close sets with the Trojans, not winning by more than four points in any of them. However, Virginia still completed a 3-0 sweep to head home with two wins on their record. Next week, Virginia welcomes the ACC’s two California teams, Cal (Sunday at 1:30 p.m.) and No. 4 Stanford (Saturday at 1 p.m.) for a pair of marquis matchups at John Paul Jones Arena. Cal will face Virginia Tech first on Saturday and fell 3-1 to in-state rival USC last time out. Stanford, meanwhile, is riding a six-game win streak going into their contest with Virginia, besting UCLA 3-1 last time out.
Looking ahead
The No. 6 men’s cross country team, and its No. 18-ranked women counterparts, head to Columbia, Missouri for the Gans Creek Classic.
Both swim teams will be in Annapolis, Maryland for an exhibition duel with Navy.
The No. 18 women’s golf team is getting competition underway in the Canadian Collegiate Invitational in Toronto on Monday.
Select individuals from both tennis teams are at the ITA All-American Tournaments in Tulsa (the Men’s team), and Cary, North Carolina (the Women’s team), beginning Monday and lasting through this week. Virginia softball also begins its Fall Ball schedule, starting Sunday at noon when it will play Hampton and Wesleyan one after the other.
Baseball also faces its first opponent in Fall Ball on Saturday at 1 p.m. when it hosts Georgetown.
