Cary, N.C. — Once again, the old adage that defense wins championships rang true.

Virginia played a majority of the 110 minutes in their own defensive half in Sunday’s College Cup final, but they created a stonewall defense that UCLA was unable to breakdown.

Cavaliers head coach George Gelnovatch said the team played the game plan to perfection, and the result of their efforts is another NCAA trophy for the Hoos, the seventh in program history.

“I don’t think we surprised UCLA,” Gelnovatch said after the title ceremony. “But the game plan was the game plan. They’re a very, very good team, and I give our guys a lot of credit to defend like that, particularly down the stretch when you get tired and start making mental mistakes and physical mistakes, they did great.

“When you get to a certain point in the second 10-minute overtime, and you’re playing the way you did and you’re within a minute and a half or two minutes, it’s probably running through your head,” Gelnovatch said of playing for penalty kicks.

Cavaliers defender Kyler Sullivan watched the UCLA team tire and become irritated at not being able to find a way through their wall of a defense.

“I think absorbing all of that pressure, I mean, that’s going to make them tired eventually, and they’re going to get frustrated trying to play against us,” Sullivan said in the press conference. “It was a little nerve-racking, but with the guys I have behind me and next to me and in front of me, I knew we would just absorb, absorb, absorb until we had to, until that clock ran out and it went to PKs, we’d be able to take it to them and get this championship.”

The match seemed destined for penalties, and the Cavaliers sturdy defense saw their hard work pay off as no golden goal was scored by the UCLA side, who already had two golden goals in the NCAA tournament this year.

With the Cavaliers leading the penalty-kick shootout 3-2, Riggs Lennon knew what he wanted to do before he approached his decisive penalty kick.

“When I was watching the penalties before, I could tell (Earl Edwards Jr.) was going off a little bit early, and he’s also scouted us, so I knew that if I went down the middle there’s a really small chance that he’s going to stay there, so I just took the chance,” Lennon said after the match.

He showed no nerves as he sprinted from the halfway line to take his kick. And he also said he remained calm before his strike and kept his mind from looking ahead.

“I actually didn’t really think about (winning the title) until afterwards when I turned around,” Lennon said. “I was just like, oh, my god, we just won a national championship.”

Gelnovatch thought every one of his players played well and did their job to perfection, so now, they can all go celebrate.

“Constant changing, constantly adapting, and the whole time an unbelievable, coachable group that listened to everything we had to say, executed every game plan, and we had a lot of them,” Gelnovatch said. “And just again, so, so proud of them and happy for them.”