Virginia blanks Howard

If the Virginia men’s soccer team is going to reach the levels to which it aspires, they’ll likely need Tony Tchani to be Tony Tchani.

That hasn’t been the case for much of the season.

After getting off to a strong start in wins on the West Coast to start this season, the sophomore from Cameroon, who had a team-leading nine goals last season, has struggled.

Tchani, coming off a torn anterior cruciate ligament that he sustained at the end of last season, was benched for a good portion of last week’s draw against Liberty.

However, Tchani played much better in Saturday’s win over Virginia Tech and looked sharp on Tuesday night at Klockner Stadium, scoring a goal — his fourth of the season and first since Sept. 22 — in No. 11 Virginia’s 2-0 win over Howard.

“My hope is that his best performances are ahead,” said Virginia coach George Gelnovatch, whose team outshot the Bison 11-4. “The last two games that he has played have been better.”

Virginia (9-3-1, 2-3), which hosts Boston College on Sunday in a game that will have huge ACC ramifications, got on the scoreboard quickly.

Freshman Will Bates continued his strong play. The forward, who had two goals in the win over the Hokies, struck in the 16th minute. Bates headed home a perfect cross from Ross LaBauex.

“Ross put in a great ball,” Bates said. “I was on the 1-yard line and just headed it in.”

Gelnovatch, whose team sits in a four-way tie for fifth place in the ACC and one game back of Boston College, has been very pleased with Bates improvement from early in the season.

“He’s scoring goals,” Gelnovatch said. “That’s what he did in high school and club soccer. I think he just needed to get more comfortable.

“If he can keep banging in goals for us, we’ll be in good shape.”

Virginia controlled play for the majority of the game. Goalie Diego Restrepo was hardly tested — he finished with just one save. Howard (2-10-2), which hasn’t won in its last seven outings, committed 17 fouls on the night.

Early in the second half, it was Tchani who gave Virginia some breathing room. The midfielder took a pass from Bates, streaked ahead of the pack and beat Howard keeper Victor Thomas to the near post with a shot from 18 yards out.

“It was a great feeling because I hadn’t scored for like four or five games,” Tchani said. “I was just like, ‘Keep working hard.’ [Coach] told me he wanted me to do more and just keeping working hard.”

Tchani said his knee feels pretty good. The biggest adjustment from last year, he said, is facing double-teams.

“They know me,” he said. “Sometimes they put like two or three players on me the whole game. The first half [against Howard], I was just like, ‘Oh, come on guys.’ There were two guys on me.”

Bates said Tchani’s reemergence has been a work in progress.

“Anytime you have an injury like that, it’s going to take a long time to get back to where you were,” he said. “He’s definitely feeling it now and playing great.”