Cavs, Flames all even

It’s been something of a strange season for the Virginia men’s soccer team. Trying to predict what George Gelnovatch’s crew will do on any given night is kind of like guessing who will win the next Nobel Peace Prize.

The young Cavaliers were winless in the preseason, but began the regular season with a pair of impressive victories on the West Coast.

Next came a surprising win on the road at No. 2-ranked Wake Forest, but that was quickly followed by an equally surprising home loss to unranked Clemson.

On Tuesday night at Klockner Stadium, Virginia’s topsy-turvy autumn continued.

No. 11 UVa had the better of play for the majority of the contest versus Liberty, but couldn’t capitalize when it needed to, failed to mark up on a restart and played the Flames to a 1-1 tie.

“It’s frustrating because we didn’t win,” said Gelnovatch, whose team outshot Liberty,

29-6. “But I thought we played very, very well. I thought we created a ton of opportunities in the first half to score a goal or two…

“They scored on a restart, which is how a lot of teams that don’t generate a lot of offense manufacture goals. We needed to be better on that one play. But we played really hard and played really well.”

Virginia had won 17 previous meetings against Liberty, outscoring the Flames by a 21-4 margin since 2001. The overtime was Virginia’s sixth of the season and the first time the Cavs finished in a tie.

UVa (7-3-1) outshot Liberty 10-2 in a scoreless first half.

Finally, in the 78th minute, just when the game seemed destined for overtime, Virginia broke through. Freshman Will Bates slipped a pass to a cutting Brian Ownby deep in the Flames’ box. Ownby chipped a shot that bounced off the left goal post, but Bates was there to punch in the rebound to give the Cavaliers a 1-0 lead.

“I kind of tried to slide it past the keeper and he kind of nicked it and it went right into the post,” Ownby said, “but luckily Bates was right there and smashed it in.”

But almost before Virginia players could finish their celebration, Liberty (5-2-3) struck back. Just over a minute later, Darren Amoo headed home a Juan Guzman corner kick to tie the game, to the delight of the large Liberty crowd on hand.

“As a goalkeeper, it’s really frustrating,” said Virginia goalie Diego Restrepo. “[I’ve] given up six goals and five are off of [restarts]. It’s really frustrating for me.

“We score and then a minute later they come back and score — it’s frustrating. But we have to come back and work on it.”

For the game, Virginia outshot Liberty 29-6. The Cavs also held a 13-6 edge in corner kicks.

“Stats don’t lie,” Restrepo said. “We have to do a better job of finishing. We’re getting there, but we’re not finishing.”

Gelnovatch, whose team is just 1-3 in the ACC, travels to Virginia Tech on Friday night.

“I do feel like this year we’ve had to work for every single bounce, every single goal, every single win,” Gelnovatch said. “We’ve had to work for everything, and hopefully we’re better for it in the end.”