Virginia Women’s Soccer Closes Strong vs Syracuse

It was quite the weekend for Virginia sports:  the men’s soccer team thrashed #1 Wake Forest 6 – 3 (and were up 5 – 0 at one point,) the football team beat Stanford 48 – 20 as they gained almost 400 yards in the first half, volleyball swept the Sports Import Classic by beating Ohio State and Troy, and field hockey beat #13 Boston College and #4 Syracuse.

Oh, and the #1 ranked women’s soccer team took care of business at Syracuse, winning 3 – 0 against the Orange.

Let’s stipulate that field hockey’s win over Syracuse is more impressive than the soccer’s win as Syracuse’s team hasn’t won an ACC game in almost three years.  But a week after the Hoos defeated #9 Penn State and #2 Duke, Steve Swanson’s charges held serve in what could have been a trap game.  (Checks notes.  Maybe not.  Clemson, a team that started out with a top 25 pre-season ranking, has one loss and three ties in their last four games.)

Virginia jumped all over Syracuse from the opening whistle and recorded three shots in the game’s first five minutes.  Two minutes in, Jill Flammia laid out a perfect ball that Maggie Cagle should have buried for the Cavaliers’ third opening-seconds kind of goal of the season.  Inexplicably, though the ball was on Cagle’s foot, she took the shot, somewhat awkwardly, with her right foot.

No matter.  Virginia’s midfield of Lia Godfrey, Flammia, and Ella Carter bossed the midfield to the extent that I have almost forgiven Traitor Yune McCormack for departing for Tallahassee.  Godfrey is playing better than at any time since arriving on Grounds and Ella Carter has made me forget all about Alexis Theoret.  And Flammia is playing with abandon.  I’m not sure what rule McCormack would have on this Cavaliers team.

Forward play, though, is going to remain an issue.  Seven of the team’s first twelve shots were from outside the box (hint: that’s too many) and the two best crosses of the game were met by Lia Godfrey.  That aspect of the game isn’t working too well when the shortest player on the Virginia roster is the one getting her head on the ball.  Credit must also be given to ‘Cuse keeper Shae Vanderbosch who had a pair of goal-saving saves in the game’s first frame.

Virginia finally got on the board when Carrie Helfrich found Allie Ross on the left wing.  Ross drove into the box, slipped the ball to Lia Godfrey who simply rocketed the ball near post to beat Vanderbosch.  Vanderbosch, despite what the announcers claimed, had the near post covered, she just couldn’t deal with the velocity on Godfrey’s shot.

Coming out of halftime, Syracuse knew they had to do something to get back into the game, and the Orange started out pressing high.  It was a reasonable decision as long-time readers know I feel that playing out of the back is problematic for the Hoos, but on the night, Syracuse wasn’t up to the task.  Keeper Vicki Safradin’s distribution has noticeably improved this season, the Cavaliers have an excellent release valve in freshman Liv Rademaker out at left back, and Kiki Maki is getting ever comfortable on the ball.  The press lasted for about 10 minutes and then Syracuse’s hopes passed along with it.

Thirty minutes into the half, Ella Carter laced a powerful skidding shot into the lower right corner for the 2 – 0 lead.  This was the ninth game of the season and already Carter has equaled the goal-exploring talleys of her two predecessors in the central defensive midfield role:  Alexis Theoret and Taryn Torres.

Virginia got the third goal as time was expiring when and unfortunate stumble took out Meredith McDermott, far from play and as she was preparing to take the ball out of the box.  It was a penalty, and it had to be called, and it was lame, though maybe it made up for a much more contentious foul of Maggie Cagle at the top of the box that was not called.  In any event, Cagle took the penalty and converted as Vanderbosch went the wrong way.  3 – 0, game, set and match to the Cavaliers.

Player Notes:  Though the game was comfortably in hand for the entirety of the second half, Swanson kept a shorter leash on his subs this game.  Sophia Bradley didn’t play and she’s been getting a lot of minutes as Swanson is trying to do something to shake up his anemic forward line.  Maya Carter played a season-low 12 minutes, but that may have more to do with Liv Rademaker’s excellent play thus far earning her more playing time.

Next Up:  With the win, the Cavaliers are 8 – 0 – 1 and have avoided the first-week losses of recent #1s Stanford and Tennessee.  The women’s next game is Thursday, September 25th at Clemson.  Gametime is 7:00pm and the game will be on ACC Network Extra.