CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (Sept. 26, 2023) - Virginia's Stephen Annor is red hot and he burned the Buccaneers in Charlottesville.
ETSU men's soccer fell 1-0 at Virginia on Tuesday night from Klockner Stadium in Charlottesville. Annor scored his team-leading fifth goal for the Cavaliers, beating Cole Hunter (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.) with a textbook header from five yards out in the 66th minute.
With the setback, ETSU dipped to 3-5-1 on the season, while Virginia improved to 5-3-1. Tuesday marked the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
UVA put pressure on the Bucs all night.
Hunter was forced into a diving save in the ninth minute by Daniel Mangarov and another in the 15th minute by Annor in his first test of the veteran Buccaneer keeper. In total, Hunter was called upon four times in the first half.
Against the run of play, ETSU had chances either side of halftime. Lucas Lightner (Clarksville, Tenn.) had a header off a cross from Sebastian Reventlow-Mourier (Viborg, Denmark) in the 45th minute that snuck just outside the right post
Kieran Richards (Hamilton, New Zealand) ran onto a perfect cross but just missed on a diving header in the 56th minute. Tarik Pannholzer (Flensburg, Germany) drilled a curling shot from 15 yards in the 58th minute but was denied by Joey Batrouni.
Another 12 minutes passed, and the Cavaliers had their breakthrough.
Mangarov got the angle on his defender down the end line to the left of goal. He lifted a cross into the box and Annor was uncontested on the header to flick it into the back post. The freshman has now scored three times in four games.
The Bucs were outshot 10-6 with five shots on goal for Virginia to two for ETSU. Richards led the Bucs with two shots. Hunter finished with four saves in a valiant effort in goal.
ETSU returns to Summers-Taylor Stadium on Saturday night for its Southern Conference opener against Wofford. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and admission is free.
For more information on ETSU men's soccer, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the men's soccer tab.
