BLACKSBURG – In their final home match of the regular season, No. 6 Virginia handed the No. 25 Virginia Tech men's soccer team a 2-0 defeat in league play Friday night at Thompson Field.
The Hokies (7-4-2, 1-4-2) were on the front foot to in the first half against the Cavaliers (13-1-1, 5-1-1). Most notably in the opening 25 minutes of play as they held the lead in shots (5-2) and corner kicks (4-0) over that span of time.
Though they were aggressive and had sevarl opportunities, Tech was unable to capitalize on any of their chances before Virginia's Nathaniel Crots was able to curl a ball into the far post and past the out stretched arms of Mathijs Swaneveld in the 32nd minute.
The Hokies looked to respond only a minute later off the foot of Daniel Pereira, but a save by Virginia's Colin Shutter saw the Cavaliers take their 1-0 lead into the break.
Virginia was aggressive to start the half as both possession and pace-play was under their control in the early portions of the period. During that time, Crofts was able to find Daryl Dike in the 55th minute as the Cavaliers extended their lead to 2-0.
Tech would go on to raise their intensity past that of the Cavaliers for the remainder of the half, but were unable to find a way to chip into the Virginia's lead.
Gallery: (10/25/2019) 2019 MEN'S SOCCER SENIOR NIGHT
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Shots: Virginia Tech 11-10
- Corners: Virginia Tech 6-2
- Saves: Virginia 5-2
GAME NOTES
- Tonight's match marked only the second time this season that Tech was held scoreless
- With the loss Virginia moved to 32-2-5 all-time against Tech
- Jacob Labovitz made his second consecutive start on the night for the Hokies
- Nathan Durst recorded the second start of his career for the Hokies
- The Hokies moved to 2-2 on the season when the opponent scores first
Friday's match between the Hokies and the Cavaliers was presented by Virginia529, the official college savings plan of Virginia Tech Athletics and the University of Virginia Athletics. To learn more about Virginia529 and the competition go to the following link (www.thecommonwealthclash.com). Building on a tradition started in 1895, the Commonwealth Clash is a head-to-head points-based competition within the 22 varsity sports in which Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia compete against each other. At the end of the season, the institution with the most points is crowned the champion of the Commonwealth Clash. Virgina holds the lead with a score of 2.5-0.
UP NEXT
The Hokies hit the road on Tuesday, October 29th as they face Princeton in Princeton, New Jersey
before hitting the road to play their final match of the regular season against Duke on Friday, November 1st in Durham, North Carolina.