Virginia Women’s Soccer Dominates #2 Duke

Swanson, as befits a man with almost four decades of head coaching experience, must be a master of the locker-room speech.  Two weeks in a row, against quality opposition, and Virginia was on the front foot while Penn State and Duke were largely bystanders.

A minute later, the directness of Virginia’s play was in evident with another lovely deep ball to McDermott, who was featured on the wing (for the first time in three years.)  Duke was playing a three-back line with a box in midfield, ostensibly to control the midfield against a team like UVa that plays just three midfielders.

In the early going, it was a disastrous decision for Duke as Virginia repeatedly found space behind the back line.  It was a steady diet of long ball soccer.  Who says that Swanson can’t make game-to-game adjustments?  The long ball also brings out the best in Kiki Maki and allows her to showcase a skill we usually don’t get to see.  And all the while Virginia was winning the midfield battle as Lia Godfrey is playing the best ball of her storied career (and honestly, looking a step faster than she was pre injury,) Ella Carter has fully owned the center mid position, and Jill Flammia returned to the lineup after missing the past six games.

Seven minutes later, Virginia went up 2 – 0 on this beauty from Carter.  Seriously, this is goal of the season material.

The flood gates had opened, and though Virginia couldn’t get the third goal, this is what I wrote in notebook:

33:36  Cagle gets behind D

32:51  Rademaker great through ball just a step ahead of Flammia at the penalty spot

31:05  Godfrey shot just misses by 6”

26:56  Flammia shot draws fine save from Caroline Dysart

25:29  Cagle shot curls just barely wide

These were the lovely shots largely created from skillful play and the expected goals for Virginia had to have been 2.5 just from these half dozen chances.

And then Duke got themselves back into the game.  They have an experienced midfield anyway, but Kat Rader, a presumptive favorite for ACC Player of the Year, dropped deeper into midfield and Duke played themselves back into the game.  Not coincidentally, Duke also ratcheted up the fouls.  Not in a Jaelin Howell-Emily Madrill FSU thuggish manner, but in a bump-from-behind and grab-jersey style.  (For the game Duke would have a 10-3 foul margin and two yellow cards (it should have been three) to Virginia’s none.  If you can’t stop the ball, sometimes the next best thing is slowing down the players.

With 17 minutes remaining, Duke got their goal and it started with Rader, who slipped the ball behind the D to Mia Minestrella.  She was wide and Virginia keeper Vicki Safradin had the near post covered, and yet, inextricably, she left her line to challenge for the ball.  It is one of the first things you teach keepers:  if you leave your line to try to win the ball, you better get it.  She didn’t get it.  2 – 1 with Virginia still ahead.  It was just about the first mistake Safradin has made all season, as she’s fifth in the nation and first in the ACC is save percentage.  (And she would make up for it later with a fabulous save as Duke was piling on the pressure late in the game.)

Going into the locker room, Virginia had won the first 20 minutes of the game while Duke had won the last 25.  There’s an adage about teams in Duke’s position not wanting the game to stop for halftime for fear that they are not going to replicate the pressure of the first half in the second.  Teams playing Virginia should be doubly pessimistic about the halftime break because Swanson keeps winning the battle of halftime.  Coming back onto the pitch, Virginia re-asserted her earlier dominance, scoring for the third and final time barely three minutes in.  Off a short corner, Ella Carter skied a cross into the box.  I was sure it was a wasted attempt, except that the ball found Laney Rouse who, as the game announcer aptly called it, nodded home a “parabolic header.” 

Hard to argue with that characterization.

Virginia could have reasonably been expected at that point – up 3 – 1 – to try to button up the game, but to their credit, the Cavaliers kept pressing for a fourth goal.  (I’ve pointed out a couple of times that last year Virginia only scored 13 goals in 10 ACC games.)  The women were playing like they wanted to obliterate that goal total, up until the 7-minute mark where they parked the bus and just started booting long balls.

Player Notes:  Gotta pay tribute to the growth of Ella Carter, Maya Carter and Kiki Maki.  Ella filled in last year when Alexis Theoret went down, but she was more of a placeholder than anything.  This year she owns the defensive midfielder role and she is proving to be far more effective in attack (re-watch the above goal as evidence.)  Maya Carter was a no-impact forward for her first two years here but she has found new life as first defender off the bench.  She is much better suited in this role.  As for Maki, I still fear that she’s going to get her pocket picked while in possession, and that it will be disastrous, but she is the anchor of a defense that just won games against a pair of top 10 teams back-to-back.

Up Next:  Virginia hosts VCU next Sunday, September 14th, at 5:00pm.  The game is on ACC Network Extra.