By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
CHARLOTTESVILLE — For a University of Virginia men’s soccer program that in December 2019 came agonizingly close to winning its eighth NCAA title, the two seasons that followed brought more misery than joy.
The Cavaliers finished 7-8-1 in 2020-21 and 6-9-3 last season, missing the NCAA tournament each year. This was uncharted territory for a program that, starting in 1981, advanced to 39 consecutive NCAA tournaments, and that made the Wahoos’ accomplishments this season all the more gratifying.
“The two previous years were pretty rough,” Virginia senior Andreas Ueland said.
Ueland was speaking Sunday afternoon at Klöckner Stadum, where Marshall eliminated UVA in a penalty-kick shootout after 110 minutes of play produced a 1-1 tie. It was not the ending the fourth-seeded Hoos wanted for their season of resurgence, but, as always, this is a tournament marked by upsets.
The 16 seeded teams in the field of 48 earned first-round byes. In the second round, seven of those seeded teams were ousted: No. 2 Washington, No. 4 Virginia, No. 6 Clemson, No. 8 Oregon State, No. 9 Lipscomb, No. 11 SMU and No. 16 Akron.
“Obviously, we’re gutted,” said forward Philip Horton, who had put Virginia ahead 1-0 with a goal in the 28th minute. “We thought we deserved more. But that’s how the game goes sometimes, getting knocked out in penalty kicks.”
In NCAA men’s soccer, any game that ends in a shootout officially counts as a tie, unless it’s the College Cup final. And so the Cavaliers (10-4-5) were left to reflect on a season in which they played the nation’s toughest schedule and didn’t lose after Oct. 4, when they fell 1-0 to Denver at Klöckner Stadium. Moreover, the Hoos went unbeaten (3-0-1) in ACC road games.
“I think I’ve only done that a handful of times in my coaching career,” UVA’s George Gelnovatch said.
This was Gelnovatch’s 27th season as head coach at this alma mater. He’s guided the Cavaliers to the College Cup six times, with NCAA titles in 2009 and 2014.
In each of those championship games, Virginia prevailed in a penalty-kick shootout. In recent years, however, the Hoos haven’t been as successful in those situations. They lost to Georgetown in a shootout in the 2019 College Cup final, and they were eliminated from the ACC tournament in a semifinal shootout with Syracuse this month. The Marshall game brought similar anguish.
“It’s 50/50 who’s…