CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – An early goal by the Milwaukee men's soccer team spurred hopes of a big upset, but nationally-ranked Virginia responded with two unanswered goals to take the lead and then broke a 2-2 tie with a late goal to escape with the 3-2 victory Wednesday evening at Klöckner Stadium.
 
The Panthers (2-4-5) led on a penalty kick from Angel Gongora just three minutes into the contest and tied the match again on a brilliant strike from Daiki Kumakawa, only to see the Cavaliers (6-1-2) prevail with a goal in the 74^th minute to remain unbeaten at home in 2025 at 5-0-1.

"Absolutely proud of the guys for their effort today," head coach Kris Kelderman said. "We played against a team that's potentially a National Championship opponent, on their home field. I couldn't have asked for a better effort from our guys. We had a pretty good game plan – a fair amount more of a defensive approach and the guys played it to a T. We gave ourselves a chance. Excellent effort. I told the guys we proved that we can hang with some of the best in the country tonight and we can take this and build our confidence going into Saturday's conference game. I think we are all excited to face the first-place team in the Horizon League Saturday."
 
The hard-luck decision came against a UVA squad that came into the day ranked No. 16 in the nation and had already gone 2-0-1 against three Top-10 recent opponents, including a 6-3 victory against then-No. 1 Wake Forest back on Sept. 19. The contest also marked Kelderman's return to the campus, after a stellar four-year career starring for Virginia back in the late 1980's while helping the program to its first NCAA title in 1989.
 
The game was barely underway when the MKE offense started connecting, with Bienvenu Djunga earning the PK after getting taken down from behind in the box.
 
Gongora converted and silenced the crowd just 2:55 into the match … 1-0 Panthers.
 
"The goal is to stay in the game and give ourselves a chance – play for one play or two plays and the guys to step up," Kelderman said. "Djunga drew the penalty, which was great, and we had a 1-0 lead. And it played into our hands – playing a defensive style. And Daiki had a world-class goal today. We tried to hang in there as long as we could, but UVA is a great team. We almost pulled off a tie … came close to a win … but losing 3-2, I told the guys they did the program well. They represented the program in excellent fashion, and they made their coach very proud tonight."
 
From there, Milwaukee played solid defense and went forward when getting the opportunity. The home side managed to draw even on a free kick that got jumbled around in front and went right to the foot of a Cavs player, making it 1-1 at the 28:03 mark.
 
The defense continued to hold, but a nice combination of passes in front was finished off to make it 2-1 at the 33:52 mark.
 
Early in the second half, Milwaukee turned momentum again. Up first, Nic Diana came up big – making a save on a UVA penalty kick in the 47^th minute.
 
Just about four minutes later, Kumakawa put on a show, taking a ball near midfield and heading towards goal. He let loose from over 30 yards out, sending a left-footed screamer into the upper left corner, banging off the crossbar and in to make it a new game again at 2-2.
 
It was back-and-forth from there. Diana made a great save in a 1-on-1 chance in the 56^th minute to keep it level. In the 65^th, Breon Jarvis' centering pass on a counterattack found Djunga in stride, but an impressive stop by Caleb Trunks again kept the scoreboard level at 2-2.
 
With the game getting late, the home side again took advantage of a fortunate bounce, pouncing on a lose ball to find the winner at the 73:11 mark.
 
Diana made one final highlight-reel stop in the 86^th to keep the deficit at one, somehow pushing a close-range shot over the crossbar and out of harm's way, but another equalizer would not be found.
 
For the game, Virgina posted advantages of 29-8 in shots, but just 10-6 in shots on goal. The home side also grabbed the 10-1 advantage in corner kicks. Djunga paced the MKE offense with three shot attempts. Diana wrapped up his solid effort with seven saves in net.
 
The team plays another high-level game next, returning home Saturday to welcome Purdue Fort Wayne to town. The Panthers and the Mastodons – who are currently unbeaten at 5-0-4 and in first place in the Horizon League – will get underway at 3 p.m. from Engelmann Stadium.