Late Goals Lift No. 10 Virginia to Comeback Win Over Lehigh

Tuesday, October 10

Charlottesville, Va.

7 p.m.

Lehigh University

7-4-1

Virginia

9-1-2

Team	1	2	Final F
Lehigh	1	1	2
Virginia	0	4	4

Late Goals Lift No. 10 Virginia to Comeback Win Over Lehigh

10/10/2017 10:31:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Lehigh surrendered a pair of tallies late in the second half which sealed the victory for No. 10 Virginia on Tuesday night. The Mountain Hawks (7-4-1) had the Cavaliers (9-1-2) on their heels by taking the game's first lead and played a much closer game than the two-goal deficit indicates, but Virginia made it happen late to walk away with the win.

Lehigh took a 2-1 lead in the 67th minute on a low rocket by Bratislav Petkovic from 18-yards out. It was the second lead of the night for the Mountain Hawks who seemed to have regained the momentum and be in the driver's seat.

The Cavaliers had other ideas and responded in the 73rd minute on a tally by Pablo Aguilar. Looking to defend its 7-1-1 home record coming into the night, Virgina had no intentions of coming away with anything less than a victory. The Cavaliers kept on the attack and notched two tallies in the final 10 minutes to secure the 4-2 win.

"For 70 minutes, we played as well as we have all season and were probably the better team during that span tonight. I liked how we were managing the game and to comeback like we did to regain the lead against a team of this caliber shows just how good we are offensively," said head coach Dean Koski. "All in all, it was a good performance, but we just lost our way in the last 20 minutes. Playing tough teams like this really helps us mature and grow. I think we learned a lesson tonight about the importance of staying focused to the end and closing out the game."

Lehigh put together one of its best halves of the season in the first 45 minutes, giving Virginia fits on the offensive end, while the LU backline kept Virginia's quality chances to a minimum. Lehigh was knocking on the door numerous throughout the first half and kept the pressure on the Cavaliers until the finally cracked.

Jack Miskel was fouled as he dribbled into the left side of the box and Lehigh was awarded a penalty kick. Mark Forrest handled the duties and finished on the attempt to give Lehigh the game's first tally in the 38th minute. Forrest is now 2-for-2 on penalty kicks this season.

The Mountain Hawks took a 6-4 shot advantage into halftime, along with a 6-1 advantage in corners and a 2-0 save margin.

As the second half heated up, Virginia caught a break on an unfortunate foul issued on a play inside the box. Sergi Nus took the penalty kick for the Cavs and finished his floater to the left side of the net to tie the game 1-1 in the 60th minute.

Petkovic put Lehigh back in the lead in the 67th minutes with a brilliant strike form the 18-yard line with a defender in his face. Aguilar answered back in the 73rd minute when he settled in a soft spot inside the 18 and drilled a one-touch to the back of the night.

Virginia's chances began to mount as the field started to tilt in the home team's direction. Edward Opoku gave the Cavaliers their first lead of the night with his tally in the 82nd minutes. Opoku snuck in behind the Lehigh backline on a through ball. He collected the ball, dribbled into a shooting lane on the left and finished with relative ease as the LU defense could not scramble back into position to defend the shot.

Virginia tacked on an insurance goal in the 86th minute when Opoku drew the attention of the defense and crossed a pass into the middle to find a sliding Ryan Petersen who footed in the cross past a diving Joe Bogan in the middle.

The Cavaliers out-shot the Mountain Hawks 9-6 in the second half to end with a 13-12 advantage for the game. Virginia also produced a 6-1 margin in corners in the final 45 minutes as the teams finished tied 7-7 for the game.

After going toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the country on the road, Lehigh will have to regain focus and emotion for a matchup with rival Lafayette on Saturday. Kickoff at the Ulrich Sports Complex is set for 6 p.m.