No. 20 Maryland men’s soccer falls 2-1 to Virginia in dramatic fashion

No. 20 Maryland men’s soccer (1-2-1) and Virginia (3-1) certainly have a deep history, and it didn’t take long for the rivalry to show its true colors in Charlottesville on Monday night.

In the 13th minute of the game, sophomore midfielder Umberto Pela made a run into the box before getting chopped down by graduate student defender Bjarne Thiesen, the referee running in with his arm pointing to the penalty spot. 

Coach Sasho Cirovski, having a few choice words for the referee from the sideline, was awarded the yellow card before entertaining the cheering crowd with some clapping and motions to the crowd himself.

Just a couple seconds later, senior forward Leo Afonso buried the penalty, running directly towards the Maryland bench to exchange some words. But 43 seconds later, senior forward Stefan Copetti would rise up for the header from freshman midfielder Kimani Stewart-Baynes’ cross and knock in the game-tying goal, running to the corner flag while quieting the Virginia home crowd. 

“Little bit of a monkey off the back,” Copetti said after netting his first goal of the season. “Confidence-wise, getting that goal is definitely a boost for me.”

Right at that moment, everyone tuning in to the DMV Derby knew they had a game on their hands. 

And what a game it was, as Virginia took the 2-1 win over the Terps in an action-packed contest. 

The early fireworks continued not long after Copetti’s score, as just four minutes after his header senior midfielder Mouhameth Thiam capitalized on a Maryland defensive breakdown in the counter attack. 

Thiam stormed down the field, bursting through the defense to find himself one-on-one with sophomore goalkeeper Mikah Seger, before lofting the ball over his outstretched glove into the back of the net. 

Just like that, the Terps once again found themselves behind and in need of a spark on the offensive end. This was a big ask for Maryland, who struggled to generate chances throughout the first 35 minutes outside of the Copetti header.

Throughout the rest of the first half, Virginia dominated the game in the Maryland third, creating chance after chance before the defense would complete a last-ditch effort to clear the ball.

With just six minutes to go in the half, Maryland nearly went down two goals due to a dangerous shot from freshman forward Stephen Annor Gyamfi that deflected off the outside of the post. 

Maryland would end up losing the shot total, 8-3, in the first half. Virginia had four of those on goal.

Both teams had to tread carefully going into the second half, as the game’s chippiness had seen five yellow cards awarded in the first 45 and neither side could afford to go down a man in such a tight rivalry game.

To begin the second period, following a few early chances from Alfonso, Stewart-Baynes very nearly leveled the game with a few filthy stepover moves to open up a shot that grazed off the upper right corner of the post.

Maryland, using this momentum, would begin to press the Cavalier defense, finding a few more chances to bring the game level.

In the 59th minute, Maryland received their best chance of the game after a shot from sophomore forward Max Riley was blocked by the arm of Brendan Lambe inside the box, earning the Terps a penalty kick. 

This time, freshman Luke Van Heukelum would step up to the spot with Copetti having suffered a minor injury minutes before. Van Heukelum, with immense pressure on his shoulders, stepped up and took the kick only for it to be saved by senior goalkeeper Holden Brown, keeping the Cavaliers in the driver’s seat. 

This would mark the second missed penalty kick in a row by the Terps, and yet another missed opportunity as they still searched for a way back into the game. 

“We can’t afford to keep missing penalty kicks,” Cirovski said. “We probably would’ve gotten the win against Wake had we scored and got a tie here if we scored.”

Around the 70th minute, Virginia elected to drop back its defense, parking the bus with a 2-1 lead. 

Past this moment, however, both teams began to suffer from the heat the match was being played in. Injuries and cramps became a real factor. Alfonso and Annor Gyamfi were forced to leave the game as a result, while Maryland’s fatigue also showed itself multiple times.

The Terps, despite having a majority of possession down the stretch, were not able to find the game-tying goal, falling to Virginia, 2-1.

On offense, one of the few bright spots for the Terps was Stewart-Baynes, who looked every bit like Maryland’s new star player. The freshman made multiple incisive runs, picking apart the Virginia defense with his shiftiness and even making some physical defensive plays despite his small stature. 

Seger came up clutch in many instances to keep the game in reach with an abundance of big time stops on what looked to be sure goals. 

His five saves were a silver lining for a Maryland defense that got beat for a majority of the match by a Virginia attack that had struggled through its first three games. 

Despite the bright spots, Copetti still felt there was plenty to work on following the loss regarding many of the team’s mistakes.

“Everyone from keeper to striker could have done better today so we’ll look back at film and be better,” Copetti said.

The Terps look to get back in the win column at home versus Georgetown this Friday.