CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Facing its first opponent of the season, Navy men's soccer rallied from a two-goal deficit to upend No. 3 Virginia, 3-2, on the road in an exhibition match on Friday night. Jacob Williams (Jr., Millersville, Md.) and Nicko West (Sr., Mansfield, Texas) scored just 2:45 apart in the final eight minutes of the game to complete the come-from-behind win.
 
Along with Williams and West, David Jackson (Fr., Cypress, Texas) tallied a goal for Navy, while Ian Bramblett (Sr., Easley, S.C.) played all 90 minutes in goal and notched a save. The Midshipmen's defense picked up where it left off last season and did not allow a shot on goal in the second half. Virginia only allowed 13 goals in 24 games in 2019 and only gave up more than two goals once, which came in the national title game against Georgetown, en route to finishing as the national runner-up a year ago.
 
"It was a tale of two games tonight," head coach Tim O'Donohue commented. "We went down early, 2-0, and got punched in the mouth to start, but after the first 25 minutes, we settled in and got going. David Jackson woke us up with the goal late in the first half. He was the man of the match tonight with that goal and he and Cristian Coelho played phenomenal in the midfield in their first appearances as freshmen.
 
"We started really well in the second half and kept pushing. Jacob Williams had a nice goal getting in between the lines and then Nicko West scored a goal-scorers goal to put us on top. It didn't feel like an exhibition tonight with the energy from the guys and they played well against a quality opponent in Virginia. I am really happy for our guys. This shows how far we have come in the last couple of years to compete at the level we did against a quality opponent and one of the most storied programs in college soccer."
 
In the first 45 minutes of play, Wyatt Millard (Sr., Columbia, S.C.) tallied the first shot of the match just 33 seconds into the contest and Bramblett was tested early on and he picked up a save in the seventh minute. Toni Adewole (Sr., Clarksburg, Md.) forced Colin Shutler to make his first stop of the match in the 11th minute, but Virginia countered with the first goal of the night in the 13th minute.
 
The Cavaliers kept pressing on offense and took a 2-0 lead in the 24th minute of play. However, the Midshipmen did not back down against the third-ranked team in the nation as right after Virginia doubled its lead, Williams looked to get Navy on the board but Shutler came up with his second save of the night.
 
Navy finally broke through in the 44th minute as Virginia was called for a foul inside the penalty area to give the Midshipmen a penalty kick. Jackson took the penalty kick for Navy and put it into the back of the net to cut the Midshipmen's deficit in half heading into the break.
 
During the opening stanza, each side finished with three shots on goal and the Cavaliers held a 9-6 edge in total shots.
 
Both teams had four shots in the second half but three of the Midshipmen's shots finished on target, while none of Virginia's attempts were on frame. Millard registered the first shot on goal in the stanza but his shot was denied.
 
Still trailing by a goal heading into the final 10 minutes of play, Williams tallied the game-tying goal in the 83rd minute. Less than three minutes later, West notched the game-winning goal for the Midshipmen en route to the win. The pair of Williams and West also picked up where they left off from the 2019 campaign as the pair finished tied for the team lead in goals with seven apiece.
 
Navy's lone regular-season match this fall is slated for Sunday, October 18 on the road against North Carolina State in Raleigh, N.C.