'Cuse Upsets No. 2 Virginia

Saturday, September 27

SU Soccer Stadium

7 p.m.

Syracuse University

8-1-0, 2-1-0ACC

Virginia

4-3-1, 1-1-1ACC

Virginia

Syracuse

9/27/2014 10:23:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

Orange records first top-five win since 2000

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The No. 18 Syracuse men's soccer team (8-1-0, 2-1-0 ACC) defeated No. 2 Virginia (4-3-1, 1-1-1 ACC) by the score of 1-0 on Saturday, Sept. 27 in front of 2,019 fans at the SU Soccer Stadium. The victory marks SU's first against a top-five opponent since the Orange defeated Connecticut in 2000 when the Huskies were the top-ranked team in the nation.

Senior defender and co-captain Skylar Thomas scored the only goal of the match in the 31st minute. The 6-foot-3 Thomas soared into the box during a Julian Buescher corner kick, finishing the service into the back of the net with a header.

"We scored on a restart and they didn't. It sounds almost too simple, but Virginia is a quality team," SU head coach Ian McIntyre said. "Similar to Notre Dame, it was a fun match with a thin margin between winning and losing. Thankfully tonight we came out on the good side."

Junior goalkeeper Alex Bono had four saves on his way to his eighth shutout victory of 2014. All four of Bono's saves came off brilliant scoring chances for the Cavaliers, including a stop on Virginia's Ryan Zinkhan from inside the six-yard box that preserved the Orange's 1-0 advantage.

Darius Madison and Jake Rozhansky led the Virginia offense. Madison had four shots and created a number of chances in the offensive third for the Cavaliers. Rozhansky registered two shots, both of which were on frame. Calle Brown played all 90 minutes in goal for UVA and made five saves.

Syracuse and Virginia had 13 shots apiece, while Orange also earned eight corner kicks to Virginia's three.

The Orange returns to action on Tuesday, Sept. 30 when it hosts Colgate in a 7 p.m. match at the SU Soccer Stadium. The game will be televised live in Central New York on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel and available nationally on ESPN3.

Match Notes: Buescher's assist represented the first point of his career … With eight wins in its first nine matches, the Orange is off to its best start since opening the 1984 campaign at 9-1-0 ... Thomas' goal was his first of the season ... The crowd of 2,019 was the second-largest every at the SU Soccer Stadium and the second gathering of more than 2,000 supporters this season. The Orange drew an SU Soccer Stadium record of 2,442 for its match against Notre Dame earlier this year.