Cavalier approach beats BC

When the final horn sounded, signaling the end of the match, freshman starting midfielder Reuben Ayarna stood by the Boston College bench, his warm-ups on, his eyes gazing directly down into the ground. Twenty minutes earlier he had given the Eagles a 3-2 lead over the visiting No.4 Virginia Cavaliers with a rocket of a penalty kick into the upper left side netting.

Perhaps the goal would have been the decisive moment in BC's biggest game of the year to date. Instead it was Ayarna's goal celebration and a curiously active referee that ultimately turned momentum in Virginia's favor, as the visiting team proceeded to score two goals in the final 15 minutes, handing the Eagles a tough 4-3 defeat.

Anyone who claims soccer is a boring game should have been on Newton Campus on Saturday night. From the get go, this game was physical, fast-paced, and intense. There were turnovers leading to great opportunities, an unusually high number of fouls (33 between the two teams), four penalty kicks, six yellow cards, two ejections, and one brief tussle. And, oh yeah, there were some goals too.

The first goal came from a familiar source, BC's sophomore forward Sherron Manswell, who continued his torrid start with his eighth goal of the season seven minutes into the contest. After a botched UVA goal kick by keeper Ryan Burke, Manswell found himself all alone with the ball, and just Burke to beat. He flicked a perfectly timed low curling shot past the leap of the keeper into the lower right side netting to give the Eagles the early lead.

BC continued its aggressive play, perhaps playing right into the hands of the Cavaliers, whose team sped up front at times overwhelmed the Eagle defense. At 28:32 of the first half, Virginia midfielder Nico Cololuca corralled a clearance after a BC rush, proceeded to weave around Eagle defenders with a series of ball flicks and shifty moves, and was about to score when he was taken down in the box.

Cololuca was awarded a penalty kick and fired a low shot that seemed destined for the upper left corner of the net. But BC keeper Issey Maholo made an outstanding acrobatic leap to tip the ball just wide and preserve the lead.

Later in the half, another penalty kick was awarded, this time to BC. After a Virginia foul just over midfield, BC defender Jamen Amato hit a perfectly placed free kick onto the feet of forward Hadrien Toure, who was tackled illegally in the box. Toure converted his penalty kick with a curving shot that glanced off of Burke's hands and into the right side netting to give his team a commanding 2-0 lead.

UVA blitzed back with a goal, albeit a controversial one, seconds later on a penalty kick. Virginia forward Yannick Reyering, derisively nicknamed Big Bird by the BC student section for his tall 6-6 frame and his bleached blond hair, used his body to shove BC defender Lennie Mcmillian out of the way.

The linesman on the right sideline appeared to signal for a foul to be called, but play continued and Reyering received a through ball and was about to score before being tripped up by Mcmillian. Play was blown dead and after a short conference between the linesman and the head official a penalty kick was awarded to UVA - a kick that Reyering would convert seconds later to cut the lead to 2-1.

"I thought that was a bad call. I guarantee that was a foul the first time on Lennie, but we still have to be disciplined and we gave too many fouls tonight" said BC head coach Ed Kelly.

Kelly, who was in search of his career win number 200, was left to run the team on his own when the physical play picked up early in the second half. BC assistant coach Ian Hennessey, who had been warned by the head official in the first half, was issued a red card after a questionable foul call against BC led to his verbal abuse of the same official.

UVA converted the ensuing free kick into a beautiful goal when Cavalier forward Adam Cristman redirected the chip with his head into the top right corner to even the score at two at 38:22.

Then at 23:52, after a BC service into UVA's box met the hand of a Cavalier defender, Ayarna stepped up and converted the penalty kick to give the Eagles the lead. The freshman forward, who had already incurred a yellow card in the first half, ripped off his jersey, and with his teammates mobbing him, stood triumphantly a few feet in front of a large crowd of BC students on the sidelines.

The head referee ran up to Ayarna as he trotted back to his end and emphatically issued the BC midfielder his second yellow card for excessive celebration, which results in an automatic red card, and thus an ejection.

Any momentum held by the Eagles after going ahead was lost to the arduous task of having to play a man down for the final 20 minutes of the match.

UVA overwhelmed the Eagles with offensive rushes, as BC struggled to clear out and organize any type of counterattack. Five minutes after the Ayarna ejection, the Cavaliers tied the score when Cristman hit an unbelievable volley into the upper right corner of the net at 15:05.After 10 more minutes of UVA pressure, the Cavaliers broke the tie at 5:00 after Reyering headed a corner down into the right side past a diving Maholo.

"We can play with anybody in the country and we're a great team, but we just have to be disciplined ... we're up 2-0, there's no way we should lose the game."