SPORTS

Virginia wins in 2OT to oust UVM in NCAA tournament

Austin Danforth
Free Press Staff Writer

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Every flag in sight stood on end. The wind, gusting out of the north, had brought an early-winter chill to the campus at the University of Virginia.

And shortly after the hour mark, Vermont, the team out of the north, did the same on the field.

“We came in here to the 12th-ranked team and we gave them a game,” UVM senior Bernard Yeboah said. “There’s some things that went their way, but we gave them a game.”

But what followed left only the Catamounts feeling raw.

Despite grabbing the lead, despite forcing extra time against No. 12 Virginia with 10 men after a second-half red card, Pablo Aguilar’s 103rd minute winner forced Vermont to swallow a 2-1 defeat in double overtime in the second round of the NCAA men’s soccer tournament at Klöckner Stadium on Sunday.

Two years after claiming their seventh national title, the Cavaliers (11-3-5) are headed to the Sweet 16.

The Catamounts (14-7-1) can only head home, underdogs in prestige but not performance.

“They’re moving on and they, at the end of the day, on the scoreboard, they got the result,” UVM coach Jesse Cormier said. “But I still firmly believe that the better team lost and I’m going to stick behind that.”

Cormier has high praise for his UVM soccer squad

The emotional high of freshman midfielder Jon Arnar Barddal’s go-ahead goal in the 62nd minute?

It lasted 155 seconds.

Vermont players celebrate the second half goal by Jon Arnar Barddal, second from left, against Virginia during Sunday's NCAA tournament game in Charlottesville, Virginia.

But during that span, Cormier said he thought the Cavaliers were in trouble after UVM took the 1-0 lead.

“And I think everybody felt that way, including their bench and including the people that are around the field,” Cormier said. "Everybody could feel it, that they were in trouble and they were going to be upset and they were going to lose.

“And that’s when things started to go haywire,” he said. “That’s the problem that I have. And that’s the injustice that I feel. I don’t think the result was just and I don’t think the way the game flowed was just. And at the end of the day I really feel for our team, our guys, our program. We were in position to win the game and everybody knows that.”

The winds of fortune changed with 26:15 left in regulation when UVM senior midfielder Charlie DeFeo, already on one yellow card after a first-half caution, saw yellow again after winning the ball from behind Aguilar two yards from the top of the penalty area.

The ball popped free off of DeFeo’s cleats, though the referee didn’t interpret the play as the Catamounts did.

“It was a clean tackle. But that’s how the game is,” said UVM senior defender Loftur Eriksson. “We can’t really do anything about it. … He was definitely on thin ice, we knew that, but I think it was a clean tackle and he didn’t deserve a second yellow.”

Prior to that, Vermont’s game plan — like their first-round win over Rider, soak up possession and pick them off on the break — had been effective.

Brian Wright had a pair of chances in the first half, one forcing a diving stop from Jeff Caldwell (three saves), and Yeboah fired a volley over the bar in the 26th minute.

In the 56th minute DeFeo won a second-chance bounce 35 yards from goal and sent it to Stefan Lamanna on the right flank. Lamanna’s rip from the top of the box  forced Caldwell to punch clear of the top right corner.

“Vermont’s a good team,” said UVA coach George Gelnovatch. “It’s very similar — I  saw their Rider game — we’re a very passing, possession-oriented team and when you pass, pass, pass, pass, they win it and transition? That’s how the goal was scored.”

DeFeo sparked the counter with an outside-of-the-foot through ball to Wright in the left channel. The Catamounts’ leading scorer carried the ball into the box, drifted to his right and instead of sizing up a shot for himself laid off a pass for Barddal to slot inside the far post.

“We said we’re going to do what we do and they can do whatever they want,” Yeboah said. “We played a lot of teams this year, we know we’re going to get on the board and we know that our style works for us.”

But the field tilted back at the Catamounts after the red card. After two previous free kicks from just outside the area sailed high and wide, Paddy Foss curled a pretty left-footed effort over the wall and past Aron Runarsson (two saves) from 23 yards to equalize 1-1 in the 76th minute.

The Cavaliers didn’t score from open play until Aguilar’s game-winner in the 103rd minute.

“And they weren’t gonna. The only way they would’ve is if we lose our best ball-winning midfielder whose, in many ways, job was the guy who scored,” Cormier said. “That’s how that stuff works. Not having one of our best players, our most effective players, doing his job, that really hurt the balance of our team and I think that was clear.”

Even with 10 players, Vermont managed to test Virginia deep in regulation and into overtime.

Wright — whose assist made him the only UVM player to finish with 40 points in a season — was a handful each time he touched the ball in the attacking half, all that two and sometimes three Virginia defenders could handle. And Yeboah’s low, bouncing drive from 30 yards forced another diving stop from Caldwell to keep it out of the left side of the net.

“(The red card) didn’t change how hard it was to break them down and it didn’t change how dangerous they were in transition, because (Wright), by himself, even a man down, can pull off a play,” Gelnovatch said.

The play of the day belonged to Aguilar, however, who spun free of two defenders at the top of the box, tip-toed through two more to slip into the box and flicked the winner past Runarsson inside the right post.

The moment of brilliance fulfilled Sunday’s only guarantee.

“Unfortunately it comes to an end and that’s the hard part for me, to watch,” said Cormier, whose UVM team loses 11 seniors. “It almost felt like it was taken from them. That’s really difficult for me.”

Earlier coverage: 

• UVM assumes underdog role in NCAA clash vs. Virginia

• UVM's 1989 NCAA soccer run stands apart

• Vermont puts on a show in NCAA win over Rider

• UVM standouts Wright, Yeboah get NCAA stage at home

• Recruits from Iceland boost UVM men's soccer program​

This story was originally published Nov. 20, 2016. Contact Austin Danforth at 651-4851 or edanforth@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/eadanforth

Cormier has high praise for his UVM soccer squad

Austin Danforth