West Virginia fell, 2-1, Sunday evening against No. 11 Virginia in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Mountaineers traveled to Charlottesville, Virginia as the Cavaliers received home field advantage.
West Virginia started off the game strong after a corner kick by graduate student Simon Carlson set junior Marcus Caldeira up to score. The Mountaineers were on the board first just three minutes into the half.
Three minutes following the first goal of the game, Virginia junior Albin Gashi put one in the back of the net assisted by sophomore AJ Smith. A review was called on the goal because of interference with West Virginia redshirt senior goalkeeper Marc Bonnaire but was later deemed a clean shot.
The Cavaliers made it to the net for a second time during the first half. The shot was completed by Smith and assisted by sophomore Brendan Lambe and fifth-year Daniel Mangarov. The Mountaineers were down 2-1 in the half.
The score remained the same for the remainder of the game. While West Virginia couldn’t manage to gain back what they lost, they dominated offensively during the second half. Overall they totaled 16 shots, while Virginia only had 5.
Virginia senior goalkeeper Joey Batrouni put up four saves while West Virginia’s Bonnaire had none. Each team faced three yellow cards and no ejections.
Graduate student Sergio Ors Navarro broke a program record with 93 game appearances for the Mountaineers.
While the Cavaliers will move on to host Massachusetts at home in the third round, the Mountaineers finish their season 13-2-7.
