Wahoowa! Virginia 2022

Discussion in 'Women's College' started by Val1, May 13, 2022.

  1. Val1

    Val1 Member+

    Arsenal
    Mar 12, 2004
    MD's Eastern Shore
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Here's Virginia's incoming class. According to TopDrawer, it's the 9th best class in the nation. Yeah, I know, but it's a talking point.

    Swanson's going back to his roots. Another Michigan signing, as well as another Dallas signing.

    I don't know anything about any of these kids, but I already love Jill Flammia. A four-time (!) Mid Atlantic ENCL player of the year. That was some kind of scholastic career. Maybe she can play right mid, 'cause that's just about the only position the starting 11 that's not already locked down.


    Maggie Cagle • F/M • Phoenix, Arizona (Arcadia High School)
    Club: Phoenix Rising FC
    • Ranked No. 30 overall by Top Drawer Soccer
    • 2020 Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year
    • Member of the U-14 and U-16 U.S. Youth National Team
    • Also participated in U-18 U.S. Youth National Team camps
    • 2x SUSD All-Conference selection
    • Served as team captain of her high school and club team
    • Helped Phoenix Rising FC to a national championship

    Maya Carter • F/M • Troy, Michigan (Troy High School)
    Club: Michigan Hawks
    • Ranked No. 75 overall by Top Drawer Soccer
    • 2x ECNL Midwest Conference Champions
    • 2021 U17 ECNL Midwest Conference Player of the Year
    • 2021 U17 ECNL All-American
    • 2021 U17 ECNL All-Conference selection
    • 2021 U18/19 U.S. Youth National Team Virtual Camp Roster

    Jill Flammia • M • Manakin-Sabot, Virginia (Goochland High School)
    Club: Richmond United
    • Ranked No. 26 overall by Top Drawer Soccer
    • 4x ECNL Mid-Atlantic Player of the year (2018-2021)
    • 4x ECNL Mid-Atlantic All Conference Team (2018-2021)
    • 2017 U.S. Youth Futsal National Team Sportsmanship Award
    • ECNL Best XI 2019
    • ECNL All American Award 2021
    • U.S. Youth National Team – U14, U16, U18 and U20 Camps

    Tatum Galvin • D • Dallas, Texas (IMG Academy)
    Club: IMG Academy
    • Ranked No. 168 overall by Top Drawer Soccer
    • Team Captain (2018-2022)
    • IMG Academy Gatorade Award winner
    • 2020 IMG Academy MVP
    • 2021 U.S. Youth National Team National ID Clinic participant

    Meredith McDermott • F • Nashua, New Hampshire (Buckingham, Brown & Nichols)
    Club: FC Stars
    • 2021 New England Prep School Player of the Year
    • 2x United Soccer Coaches All-New England selection (2019, 2021)
    • 2021 All-American High School Game selection
    • 2x New England Prep School First Team All-League selection (2019, 2021)
    • 2x Independent School League First Team All-League selection (2018, 2021)
    • 2021 Team Captain
    • 2020 ECNL National Selection Game – Florida Showcase
    • 2019 ECNL Northeast All-Conference
    • 2019 ECNL National Training Camp selection

    Helen Symbas • D • Atlanta, Georgia (The Westminster Schools)
    Club: Concorde Fire
    • Ranked No. 156 overall by Top Drawer Soccer
    • 2019, 2021 Georgia State Champions at The Westminster Schools
    • 2022 Team Captain at The Westminster Schools
    • 3x Team Captain with Concorde Fire
    • ODP participant (2014-2017)
    • 2021 Nationals participant with Concorde Fire
     
  2. Enzo the Prince

    Sep 9, 2007
    Club:
    CA River Plate
    Maggie Cagle is excellent. If you've been watching ACC soccer a couple decades, maybe you'll recognize the name. Mom Kelly is a former head coach at Virginia Tech.
     
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  3. Val1

    Val1 Member+

    Arsenal
    Mar 12, 2004
    MD's Eastern Shore
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Virginia has two players on the all-preseason team: Alexa Spaanstra and Lia Godfrey.

    Here's the entire team:

    upload_2022-8-16_16-9-58.png

    Which proves yet again that coaches are idiots. There are only two defenders. Un********ingbelievable.
     
  4. Eddie K

    Eddie K Member+

    May 5, 2007
    Not sure what you mean? It looks like Flammia and Carter had Zero scholastic careers. Funny how the ecnl has had to make up awards since so many kids don't play HS Soccer or even in big tournaments any more.

    I'm quite sure these are terrific players but "Virtual" camp roster? She was picked to go to meetings during covid? Come on now...

    They should list how many travel miles these players had to cover to get to an ACC college roster.

    Just being cheeky, I do like Swanson and wish UVA all the best...
     
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  5. Val1

    Val1 Member+

    Arsenal
    Mar 12, 2004
    MD's Eastern Shore
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Well, by "scholastic" I meant that time in which they are in high school as opposed to their collegiate time.

    And I have zero knowledge of ECNL ball. No idea of the talent level. But you have to have dominated that level pretty thoroughly to be a four-time player of the year.

    Of course, past performance is not always indicative of future performance. Ralph Sampson was a three-time Naismith award winner and he went on to have a pretty middling pro career. He was beset by injuries, but still.
     
  6. Val1

    Val1 Member+

    Arsenal
    Mar 12, 2004
    MD's Eastern Shore
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Virginia beat George Mason 3 - 1 to open the season. I didn't watch the game (was at an Elvis Costello concert instead) but I think I learned all I need to know about the game with the following stat: Virginia took 37 shots to notch those three goals. Seems like business as usual for the Cavs.

    But who really cares because this was the pic of the night:

    upload_2022-8-19_11-5-32.png
     
  7. Val1

    Val1 Member+

    Arsenal
    Mar 12, 2004
    MD's Eastern Shore
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    You got that right, @Enzo the Prince . Three assists in her first two games.
     
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  8. Val1

    Val1 Member+

    Arsenal
    Mar 12, 2004
    MD's Eastern Shore
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    The Greyhounds of Loyola (Maryland) came to Klöckner ahead of Virginia’s visit to #18 Georgetown on Thursday. The match turned out to be very much the tune up that Cavalier fans expected as Virginia poured in four first-half goals and ran the Greyhounds off the pitch.

    Virginia was much more clinical on attack on the night, scoring six goals on 21 shots, twelve of which were on target. As head coach Steve Swanson said, “It’s still early, but there was progress made today from a process and result standpoint. It was good to see us finish goals and play the way we did tonight.” He’s got that right, because finish we did not against George Mason on Thursday.

    It only took 6 minutes for Sarah Brunner to collect the rebound from a powerful Haley Hopkins header in the box and put the Cavaliers up 1 – 0. The cross had been delivered by freshman Maggie Cagle, who also assisted on the team’s fourth goal. (Note: Virginia statisticians have erroneously credited the first Cagle to assist to Lia Godfrey, but Godfrey was clearly in the box. This was Cagle’s assist.) Cagle also assisted on Virginia’s fourth goal of the night, feeding a perfectly weighted ball through the back line that freshman Jill Flammia coolly slotted home. If you’re counting at home, that is now three assists in two games for Cagle.

    Beautiful through balls were the theme for the evening as Lia Godfrey made two perfect passes that lead to Virginia’s second and fifth goals of the night. Eight minutes after Brunner’s goal, Godfrey found Alexa Spaanstra in the final third just behind the Greyhound back line. Loyola keeper Paige Sim had no chance of getting to the ball before Spaanstra and probably should have stayed home, but coming out as far as she did, she gifted Spaanstra pretty much an open goal and the Super Senior waltzed away with her second goal of the season. Nine minutes into the second half Godfrey, after a strong drive toward the top of the box, found a streaking Brunner, who collected the ball in full stride and struck the prettiest goal of the night.

    Rebecca Jarrett got in on the action, collecting a rebound at the top of the box and driving it home. She was aided by a deflection for the second straight game, but goals come when you drive the ball low in the box. What is most important at this point is that Jarrett is comfortable and trusts herself to be the difference maker this team needs. She’s still playing carefully, but on two occasions we did see her sprinter’s speed as she collected a pair of errant passes.

    Emma Dawson notched the final goal of the night, collecting a ball in traffic at the penalty spot and driving the ball first time. Some players just have a nose for goal, and I thought that perhaps Sarah Brunner – who does have the drive to goal – might displace Dawson for the starting right midfielder position, but on this night, Dawson struck the ball perfectly. This was a striker’s goal.

    Again in contrast the George Mason game, there was only one poor shot of goal, and it came on a hopeful shot from Brunner who can surely be excused for trying for her hat trick.

    Defensive Notes:

    Samar Guidry and Laney Rouse were again absent, presumably still getting acclimated following their stint with the national women’s U20 team. Sarah Clark has been strong holding down the right side in Rouse’s absence, while Bunner and Chloe Japic have had free rein to attack down the left. Going back to at least the days of Courtney Petersen, Virginia has been unbalanced with Petersen, Guidry and now the Brunner/Japic hybrid having carte blanche to attack. Both Brunner and Japic are nominally midfielders, which is very much in evidence in their prowess in the opposing half.

    When Lacy McCormack, Swanson’s Swiss army knife of a midfielder, comes in, she is dropping into the back line with Claire Constant moving to a defensively-minded center midfielder. McCormack has had her share of injuries and covid protocols the past two seasons, and maybe she’s working herself into fitness, but I think she’s a better central midfielder than Constant. The drop off offensively between starter Alexis Theoret and Constant hasn’t been noticeable these first two games, but it could be an issue as the team heads into ACC play.

    Kiki Maki, a former top 150 recruit two years ago, logged maybe 25 minutes last year as a central defender. Next year Virginia will lose Clark, Constant and possibly Talia Staude, but if Maki can’t get game time when the left is manned by two converted midfielders and freshman Tatum Galvin is backing up Clark, I wonder just how much of a contribution Maki will be able to make to Virginia going forward.

    Corner kicks:

    On Thursday, Lia Godfrey took 14 of Virginia’s 15 kicks. I have long thought that Theoret is a better dead ball striker than Godfrey, and tonight Theoret was the primary when she on the pitch. This is progress. When Theoret was out, the responsibility went to Japic and hers are even better. She really drives the ball. Every one she has taken has been when Hokins has been out of the game, but I would love to see Hopkins be the target for a driven Japic corner.

    Next Up:

    Virginia travels to Georgetown on Thursday. For the last half-decade, Virginia has enjoyed out-of-conference games with West Virginia and Penn State, but those agreements sadly seem to have run out. This is the marquee game of what Virginia coaches call the “first” season. Georgetown drew at Penn State to open the season before defeating UMass Lowell in a game that Hoya head coach Dave Nolan called “sloppy.” Hopefully both teams bring their A game.
     
  9. Val1

    Val1 Member+

    Arsenal
    Mar 12, 2004
    MD's Eastern Shore
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    #9 Val1, Aug 25, 2022
    Last edited: Aug 25, 2022
    This game was on FloSports, which would have cost me $30 for one month. But earlier this week the game was listed as being an ACCN+ offering, so Virginia got shafted and I'm paying for ACCN to shaft Virginia.

    In any event, Maggie Cagle got her fourth assist of the season (and that stats guys have corrected the inaccurately attributed assist from the Loyola game.) And for small sample size bon mots, Cagle has made the game winning assist in every game this season.

    We found a keeper. Cagle doesn't strike me as technical as other former standouts who have, well, stood out, since minute 1 (Lia Godfrey and Alexa Spaanstra) but she's just in the right place at the right time.
     
  10. Enzo the Prince

    Sep 9, 2007
    Club:
    CA River Plate
    I thought that was pretty dominant for a 1-0 game. Georgetown really doesn't try to pass or connect and combine much; just balls forward into channels and aimless crosses/long shots. Virginia's passing really started clicking in the second half and it was like two teams playing completely different sports. Nonetheless, Georgetown still carries plenty of threat with individual talent. Very strong win.
     
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  11. Siddhartha

    Siddhartha Member

    Leeds
    United States
    Aug 11, 2022

    Cagle is a playmaker. Has been through her youth. She is deceptively athletic, physical, and productive. I think she’s going to play a big part for this team.
     
  12. Number007

    Number007 Member+

    Santos FC
    Brazil
    Aug 29, 2018
    Have you watched any games this year?
     
  13. Val1

    Val1 Member+

    Arsenal
    Mar 12, 2004
    MD's Eastern Shore
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    I'm impressed. I don't know the status of Rebecca Jarrett's progress from last year's injury, and I'm sure her minutes are being watched, but at this point, Cagle's getting much more PT.
     
  14. Val1

    Val1 Member+

    Arsenal
    Mar 12, 2004
    MD's Eastern Shore
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Streaking the Lawn's game report for the Virginia v JMU game: https://www.streakingthelawn.com/20...mes-madison-win-2-0-haley-hopkins-lia-godfrey

    The James Madison University Dukes made the hour-long trip to Klöckner Stadium boasting a defense that had not given up a goal and sporting an undefeated 3-0-1 record. The men joined them as Virginia was hosting a soccer double header on the night. It did not go well for JMU.

    After 45 minutes, the game was knotted at 0 – 0 and it was easy to see why the Dukes had such early success. JMU keeper Alexandra Blom was fabulous, making a pair of highlight reel saves to keep the Dukes in the game, but really, this game was never in doubt. On the night, the Cavaliers would out-shoot JMU 22 – 0 and take 10 corners to JMU’s none.

    All that kept JMU in the game in the first half was Virginia’s poor play. The Cavs didn’t look sharp and made numerous unforced errors, spraying multiple passes straight out of bounds or to directly to their opponents. Virginia’s shooting woes were again on display as Virginia sent half a dozen shots well high of the crossbar. Haley Hopkins, last Sunday’s hat-trick hero, hit the top of the crossbar from about the 6-yard box, and substitute Maya Carter’s wicked shot hit the upright.

    Head coach Steve Swanson has stuck with a 4 – 3 – 3 formation for at least the past half decade, and he’s been moving personnel around so far in the young season. He started this game, as he did the Fairleigh Dickinson game by pairing Lacy McCormack in the center of defense with Talia Staude. For the past two seasons, Claire Constant has been Staude’s mate on the line, but now Swanson has moved Constant up to center midfield and moved Alexis Theoret – who should be the center mid – to the right side of midfield.

    Furthermore, Lia Godfrey, nominally the left midfielder, has free reign to roam all over the midfielder and she was more frequently in the right channel than the left. She covers a lot of ground, but she was consistently late getting back to her defensive assignment on the left. Constant is not as good a central midfielder as she is a defender and Theoret has looked uncomfortable on the right, and this coupled with Godfrey neglecting the left, allowed JMU to frequently ping the ball around our midfield.

    Now, there is a huge gulf in class between Virginia and James Madison, so the Dukes couldn’t take advantage of their possession, but if the Dukes and UNCs of the ACC are watching, JMU gave them a template for how to control the midfield against the Cavaliers.

    In the second half, Swanson put Theoret back in the middle, first-year Maggie Cagle on the right, and order was restored very quickly. Just over a minute into the second half, JMU committed a hand ball in the box and the Cavaliers were rewarded with a penalty kick. It’s pretty clear that Hopkins has laid claim to the penalty taking role and, for the second game in a row, struck a sublime penalty. JMU’s Blom went the right way and got a decent jump, and Hopkins still beat her.

    Virginia cut down on the unforced errors and took control of the game. Hopkins and Rebecca Jarrett both skied a couple of shots, but JMU never seriously threatened. And to the Dukes’ credit, they didn’t give up and for a brief two-minute burst late in the half, JMU ratcheted up the pressure and kept Virginia pinned down.

    With five minutes left in the game, Virginia put the game out of reach. Maya Carter had the ball at the top of the box, made a deft turn and had her shot deflected to just in front of an on-rushing Lia Godfrey. Virginia punched the ball home from the top of the box and the game was secure.



    With the victory, Virginia improves to 5 – 0 on the season with a clash with new Top-25 entrant Memphis on Sunday. The game will be on ACCNX and game time is 6:00pm.
     
  15. Val1

    Val1 Member+

    Arsenal
    Mar 12, 2004
    MD's Eastern Shore
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    The Cavaliers de-clawed the Tigers on Sunday.

    https://www.streakingthelawn.com/20...phis-tigers-brianna-jablonowski-haley-hopkins

    The Virginia Cavaliers hosted new top-25 entrant in Memphis on Sunday night at Klöckner Stadium as part of a two-game swing in the Commonwealth for the Tigers. The trip did not go well for Memphis as they dropped a game against Louisville in Harrisonburg and were pounded late by the Cavaliers, giving up four second-half goals en route to a 5-0 loss.

    Memphis started the game well and were active in midfield. Many are the teams that have tried to press Virginia in midfield, and in the first half, Memphis was about as successful as possible.

    The Tigers denied Talia Staude the left channel so she wasn’t able to make the runs forward she’s accustomed to and Lacy McCormack, Virginia’s second central defender, had an abysmal game with the ball at her feet, turning the ball over multiple times. I like McCormack, she’s versatile and it looks like Virginia head coach Steve Swanson is grooming her to replace Staude next year, but better teams are going to take advantage.

    The other problem the team is facing is that Swanson has elected to start Claire Constant at central midfield and move Alexis Theoret over to the right. For the first three games of the season, Theoret had started in the center and Emma Dawson was on the right. Dawson is a team captain and she has steadily improved over her three years on Grounds. I don’t know if she’s carrying a knock — though she looks fine on the field — but she’s played minimal minutes these last three games. The problem for the Virginia attack is that Constant can’t really turn the ball with a defender on her. Yet.

    Maybe this is part of Swanson’s plan for developing Constant for the next level. It would be consistent with his M.O. Three years ago, Swanson took his best player, Phoebe McClernon, and played her out of position at right back because he knew that her path to the professional level was not as a central defender. It worked for McClernon who became a first round pick.

    The Cavalier game plan was to attack the space behind the Memphis back line, which seemed like the right idea, given that Memphis was committing to the high press. But the Tiger defense was excellent in the first half, intercepting or denying the through ball.

    Right winger Rebecca Jarrett, showing that she has fully recovered, exploded on a pair of counters, and found the right person in space twice, but Alexa Spaanstra’s shot went just wide and the Tiger defense closed beautifully on Lia Godfrey. On the two most glorious through balls of the first half, first Sarah Brunner and then Brianna Jablonowski were offsides.

    Freshman Maggie Cagle, in an effort to speed the game up, did something I have rarely seen in the current iteration of Swanson’s team: she took a quick free kick. The Cavaliers can be maddeningly deliberate when it comes to corners and free kicks, so it was refreshing to see the fast re-start.

    The breakthrough came with just two minutes left in the half, when Cagle got the ball at top of the box, fed Jablonowski, who dipped past one defender, and hit a beautiful curling shot into the top right corner. It was a glorious shot from a player who had lost her role as first-off-the-bench striker due to the emergence of Cagle who, by the way, collected her fourth game-winning assist of the season.

    As Steve Swanson told our very own Zach Carey after the game, the goal changed the complexion of the game. Memphis had been very successful shutting down Virginia and the Tigers had found pressure points in the defense. The goal was deflating and Memphis was clearly going to have to take it to Virginia.

    Memphis did come out attacking in the second, but two of the team’s counters were nicely stuffed by Staude and McCormack. (How Staude has never sniffed a whiff of All-ACC recognition is beyond me, but that’s a rant for another day.)

    The dam broke for the Cavaliers 15 minutes into the second half when Haley Hopkins was brought down, seemingly just outside the box. The NCAA has had video-assisted review (VAR) for a couple years now and, in this case, VAR came to the rescue. And it was spot on. For the third straight game, Hopkins took a picture-perfect penalty, and gave the ‘Hoos a 2-0 lead.

    I don’t know how much any team really cares about rankings, but I suspect deep down, they are important. Memphis, having just entered the top-25 and having just lost to Louisville, needed to stop the bleeding and make this a game. Pride, I imagine, took over. But they couldn’t convert and Virginia simply put on a clinic as to how to run a fast break.
    Check out the highlights. This was soccer like it was drawn up on the whiteboard. It’s one-touch soccer with Hopkins, Brunner and Jablonowski clinical in front of goal.



    Jablonowski gave her thoughts on the team on the whole after her breakout performance: “Our team is so good this year. We’re led by veterans with so much experience. They are constantly pushing us to learn new things and I’m super excited.” The junior also added that she hopes, as a role player, to “just be able to come in and impact the game.” Mission accomplished.

    Next Up: With the win, Virginia advances to 6-0 on the season and welcomes Oregon State (3-1-2) to Charlottesville on Thursday. Game time is 6PM and the game will be on the ACC network.
     
  16. Val1

    Val1 Member+

    Arsenal
    Mar 12, 2004
    MD's Eastern Shore
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Streaking The Lawn game report vs Oregon State:

    https://www.streakingthelawn.com/20...ia-cavaliers-oregon-state-cagle-steve-swanson

    The Second Team Shines against Oregon State

    Corvallis is my ancestral home. I’ve had a soft spot in my heart for Oregon State sports since Ralph Miller was pacing the sidelines in Gill Coliseum. But the women’s soccer team got zero love from the Virginia Cavaliers in a midweek game at Klöckner. It was like shooting fish in a barrel as the Cavaliers poured in five goals and recorded a sixth straight shutout.

    OSU came out and bunkered, or as gamers would call it, turtled, from the opening whistle. It took Virginia 40 seconds to record their first shot on goal and it came on a Samar Guidry cross to Haley Hopkins. If I had a heat map of the first half, it would be one of the more extreme heat maps out there, and many teams have parked the bus against the Cavaliers. But most usually have some plan (hope?) to hit on the counter. It seems Oregon State had no such plans and were content to just kick the ball away or out of bounds. Anything to just slow the Virginia attack down.

    And it worked. Virginia huffed and puffed for 20 minutes trying to get behind Beaver lines. One great Rouse cross that led to a fine Hopkins header was nicely saved, but for all of Virginia’s possession, they struggled to get good shots.

    The damn was always going to break, and it finally did in the 25th minute when most of the starting forward line had been subbed out. Guidry struck another fine cross to sub Emma Dawson who took the ball out of the air and fed it to sub Maggie Cagle with one sublime touch. Cagle hesitated, let the ball roll across her body (and past her defender) and slotted the ball home coolly. For those keeping score at home, Cagle now has a game-winning goal to accompany her four game winning assists.

    Guidry had possibly her best game of the season, which is encouraging, because she’s been a shell of her former self. The past two years Guidry has proved to be the most electric dribbler on this Cavalier side, and possibly in the ACC. What she needed to add to her arsenal was the pinpoint cross, and with this game as evidence, it looks like she’s done so. Hopefully the game will give her confidence because her dribbling has been sub-par thus far. But on this night, Guidry was a terror.

    In the last 10 minutes of the first half, Virginia was finally able to really attack the space behind the OSU defensive line as Talia Staude put a great ball over the line that Cagle couldn’t get to, and then Cagle returned the favor by feeding Brianna Jablonowski for a good chance.

    With four and half minutes left, Maya Carter (subbing for Hopkins) took advantage of the OSU line retreating too far, too quickly, drill a long range shot that forced the OSU keeper to step back behind the goal line. When she bobbled the ball, it meant a Virginia score. For the second game in a row, video assisted review (VAR) came to the rescue to pronounce the shot a goal. 2 – 0 to the good guys, and the rout was on.

    With three seconds left on the clock, substitute (are we catching the theme here?) Chloe Japic found Carter, who guided the ball beautifully into goal. Virginia had already broken OSU, but to surrender a goal, literally in the dying seconds of the half, had to be extra demoralizing. But I think what I liked most about this goal, was Carter’s reaction. “Act like you’ve been there before,” is the sentiment of perhaps an earlier age, but here Carter acts like someone who has scored many a goal and she knows she has many more in Virginia career.



    OSU had no choice but to come out in the second half and at least try to play, if not attacking soccer, at least some of the game in the Virginia half. But in a game where everything was coming up roses for the Cavaliers, three minutes into the second half, Lia Godfrey mishit a cross from very wide right, and the ball bounced off the upright and caromed off an OSU defender’s leg. It was as fortuitous as Mike Hollins recovering the football in the endzone off the referee’s leg in Saturday’s game versus Richmond.

    Lia Godfrey is a starter and a star – two time All-ACC – but the subs came roaring back to score one more goal with 14 minutes left in the game, as Sarah Clark fed Sarah Brunner who delivered the ball at the feet of Emma Dawson for the fifth goal. You can’t draw up a play this well.



    Looking Ahead

    The game was a great win and confidence booster for the second string. But this is the second-to-last out-of-conference game, and if there’s a concern, it is perhaps Virginia hasn’t been tested sufficiently for the ACC gauntlet that is coming next week. On this night, Duke and North Carolina faced off in a non-ACC game, just days after each team played the #1 team in the land, UCLA. UVa had a tough game against Georgetown, and that was pretty much it. Virginia kicks off ACC play, or the second season as Virginia coaches call it, with a game at Chapel Hill. You can’t start off with a bigger bang than UNC away.


    Injury Watch

    Jill Flammia, after getting regular minutes off the bench the first four games of the season, has not played the last three games. These three games are the same three that Claire Constant has started in central midfield. If these two facts are related, then Flammia’s health is a major concern for the remainder of the season

    Next Up

    The final pre-ACC tune-up game is Sunday, September 11th, at home vs VCU. Game time is 2:00pm and the game is on the ACC network.
     
  17. Val1

    Val1 Member+

    Arsenal
    Mar 12, 2004
    MD's Eastern Shore
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Virginia struggled to close out a very scrappy VCU team this afternoon.

    I have an editor now, so I can't publish straight away, but this is what will get reported at Streaking The Lawn.

    It was a bad weekend for Virginia sports. Tony Elliott’s wards laid an egg in Champaign. Virginia’s field hockey team had a harder road to hoe, they lost Northwestern, albeit the #1 team in the country. Women’s soccer had a chance to atone for these losses, but instead they drew against a very scrappy VCU team on Sunday.

    VCU is a quality mid-major program. The Rams won the Atlantic 10 regular season last year, and they came into the game on a five-game undefeated streak and having knocked off a fellow ACC team in Pittsburgh. Most middling teams come to Klöckner and bunker, but they lack the ability to transition to attack.

    On the day, VCU figured it out in spades. The Rams were assertive, maintained more possession than maybe anyone other that Georgetown (the game was on FloSports, so I didn’t see it,) and got the ball behind the Cavalier backline on at least four occasions. Reigning ACC Defensive Player of the Week, Talia Staude, had another blinder of a game, but in fact, VCU was their own worst enemy. Maybe a dozen times, in possession and in the final third of the field, VCU just gave the ball away. Bad passes, panicked decisions, and at least three very long range, very speculative shots. Better decision-making? The Rams might have been able to take this game to Virginia.

    For their part, the Cavaliers were not sharp. A couple of times this year, head coach Steve Swanson has noted that his team was slow in changing the point of attack, and it was in evidence today. It’s not helped by Swanson’s preference to start Clair Constant at central midfielder. I’ve raised this point and at this point, I’m beating a dead horse.

    It’s not helped by the team’s overall deliberate pace of play. When the ball goes out of bounds for a throw-in, you never see a midfielder or forward take the throw quickly. (Five or six times a season, Alexa Spaanstra might throw it, but that’s it.) At one point in the second half, when the game clock was starting to be an issue, Maggie Cagle rushed to the sideline to take a fast throw, and she was waved off. Instead, Sarah Clark meandered up the side to take the throw. By then, every VCU defender was in place. When you are chasing a goal, that’s sub-optimal.

    And thirdly, Rebecca Jarrett, who has spent the entirety of her career hugging the sideline, spent the game well inside the right channel. It had to have been by design, but it was curious given that VCU lined up in a 3 – 5 – 2. The way to attack that formation is right inside Virginia’s wheelhouse: keep the wingers wide and the two outside midfielders (or wingbacks) have to stay back to help defend. The way Jarrett set up allowed VCU’s three central defenders to cover her and the Ram midfield got an extra midfielder. And that allowed VCU to possess much more of the ball and play Virginia even in the middle of the pitch.

    There were four really good chances in the game and the first fell to VCU 10 minutes into the second half. Anna Bagley sent a fine through ball past Virginia’s defensive line and rather than follow the ball, defender Laney Rouse chose to try and shield VCU’s Kendyl Sarver 10-12 yards off the ball. I don’t know what she was thinking, but Sarver blew by her and had a one-on-one with keeper Kayla White. White made a fabulous kick save and the score remained knotted at 0 – 0.

    Spaanstra had a pair of opportunities that she muffed. While I wouldn’t call Spaanstra clinical in front of goal, they were both opportunities that she has buried before, and the misses will surely give her nightmares until Saturday’s game with North Carolina.

    Virginia’s best chance came midway through the second half. Lia Godfrey and Haley Hopkins combined to lead a racing Spaanstra down the left sideline. Spaanstra sent the ball in to Hopkins, who had beaten her defender. Hopkins had time on the ball, took one touch, and had only the on-rushing keeper to beat. She should have buried it, but Whitney Horton made an even better save than White’s and the score would remain deadlocked until time ran out.

    This is the first year that men and women are playing under the new no-overtime rules. OT would probably have worked to the Cavaliers’ advantage as VCU changed gears in the last 15 minutes trying to preserve the tie. Virginia was knocking on the door, but just couldn’t close the deal.



    Next Up
    The Cavaliers get a long week before ACC play begins with Virginia traveling to Chapel Hill to take on UNC on Saturday, 16 September. Game time is 6:00pm and the game will be covered by the ACC Network Extra.
     
  18. Enzo the Prince

    Sep 9, 2007
    Club:
    CA River Plate
    VCU is a quality team. I watched their games against NC State and Pitt. They deservedly beat Pitt and ran State close, just didn't have anyone fast enough to deal with Jameese Joseph. I'm surprised and a little bummed UVa wasn't able to win this one, but it's not totally shocking.
     
    Val1 repped this.
  19. Val1

    Val1 Member+

    Arsenal
    Mar 12, 2004
    MD's Eastern Shore
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    #19 Val1, Sep 17, 2022
    Last edited: Sep 17, 2022
    Streaking the Lawn game report vs Carolina: https://www.streakingthelawn.com/20...h-carolina-unc-upset-comeback-rebecca-jarrett

    Virginia's Second Act Wipes Away a Mr Jeckyll Kind of First Half

    What did Steve Swanson tell his team at halftime?

    The Virginia Cavaliers were away, playing on the North Carolina Tar Heels home turf, and were down 2 – 0 as they trudged into the locker room. The game wasn’t really close and the halftime stats fully encapsulated the futility of the women on the pitch: Zero shots on goal, zero corners taken.

    Claire Constant’s play in the center of the field was again making me question Swanson’s sanity in playing her there. Rebecca Jarrett had two turnovers (one particularly egregious) that lead directly to UNC goals. Hailey Hopkins was getting completely owned whenever she tried to hold up the ball. Starting in her biggest game ever, Kayla White’s distribution was, to borrow an English phrase, shambolic. And it was like Alexa Spaanstra wasn’t even on the pitch.

    At the half, I told my wife that at least the game was over quickly. How wrong I was. I’ve always envisioned the biblical Lazarus staggering out of the tomb, his hands and feet covered in embalming cloths, shielding his eyes from the sun. Well, the Cavaliers didn’t come out staggering. They came out roaring.

    It didn’t take more than two or three minutes for Virginia to take control of the game. They won two 50 – 50 balls in the second minute, which was probably as many as they won the entire first half. They connected on the passes that they’d been tossing away in the first half. Alexis Theoret was back where she should be in the center of midfield. There was life in the Cavaliers’ lineup.

    Nine minutes in, Jarrett atoned for her mistakes.

    Jarrett collected the ball wide right and cut in past Tar Heel defender Tessa Dellarose, who gave chase but never caught her. Jarrett picked up her head and looked off Tori Hanson and froze her, and then blew by Julia Dorsey, and from outside of the box, nestled the ball into the right corner. Beating, and abusing, three defenders was not only the pick-me-up the team so desperately needed, but it was pay back for UNC’s 2nd goal. Redshirt freshman Ally Sentnor, the #1 scholastic player two years ago, simply sublime similarly abusing four Cavalier defenders before slotting it past White.

    Four minutes later, Virginia won their first corner, and in a sign of things to come, Lia Godfrey drove the corner. It was nicely cut out by the Carolina keeper, but I’ve been wanting to see Theoret take corners. Two minutes later, Godfrey went to the same spot and drilled a second corner. This time Lacey McCormack won the header and directed it to the awaiting Spaanstra who re-directed it into the back of the net. Last game out, Virginia tied VCU and Spaanstra had a chance with a header, and she shanked it wide. This time, in a bigger game, Spaanstra got the goal and game was knotted up 2 – 2.

    The final goal came with 18 minutes left to play with Lia Godfrey starting a 30 yard give and go with Maggie Cagle. Cagle, who is playing with a guile that belies her youth, waited on the ball, allowed Godfrey to catch up and slipped her the ball. If Jarrett had beaten the UNC keeper to the right, Godfrey drove the ball and slipped it just inside the left post. 3 – 2 to the good guys and that’s how the game would end. Regular readers know that I’m keeping score, but that’s Maggie Cagle’s 5th game winning assist. In nine games.

    Godfrey and Jarrett put on a master class on how to finish. It is incredibly difficult to strike balls that hard, from that distance, on the turf, and just inches from the posts.



    Just seconds before this goal, Constant had come back in at center mid, and her second half was inspirational. She was a Phoenix rising from the ashes as she won every ball in the center of the pitch. If there was a single player who cemented the win, it was Constant. And like her, Hopkins was night and day in the second as well. She had several driving runs right down the heart of the Tar Heel defense -- the kind Samar Guidry used to make – the last of which took her wide inside the penalty box. She could have taken a shot, but the angle wasn’t great, but instead she turned around and took the ball to the corner flag, where the Cavs put on a master class in killing off a game. Hopkins, Laney Rouse, and Jarrett ran over a minute off the clock, winning three throw-ins in the process.

    The magnitude of this win is enormous. At UNC, playing in the best park in collegiate soccer, and with a standing-room only type crowd, the women shook off a disastrous first half and knocked off UNC. Carolina women’s soccer is arguably the greatest dynasty in collegiate sports, with coach Anson Dorrance having won 22 national championships. This was a team that had never lost a regular season game in which they held a multi-goal lead. Never. Until now.

    But the unsung play of the game came from Lia Godfrey. Sam Meza, who is probably the best player on this Carolina team, got the ball deep behind the Cavaliers defensive line with three minutes left to play. Godfrey, who’d played 81 minutes to that point, hounded continuously by the Tar Hell press, tracked her down, and snuffed this chance. And by-the-by, she won the goal kick. Another 30 seconds down the drain for Carolina’s last hopes.



    Injury Watch

    Talia Staude pulled up lane in the middle of the second half and left the game for 8 minutes. Those were the first non-critical minutes that she has played in her four-year career at Charlottesville. She didn’t seem any worse for wear.

    There’s something wrong with Samar Guidry. She’s lost her dribbling mojo and she was pressed mercilessly in the first half. I don’t know if she’s riding a knock, but her lack of offensive output is noticeable. She is slower on her turns and can’t accelerate away from pressure, even against lesser squads than Carolina’s.

    Next Up:

    Virginia (now 8 – 0 – 1) travels to South Bend to take on the Fighting Irish, formerly the #6 team in the nation, on Thursday, 22 September. Game time is 7pm and the game will be carried by ACC Network Extra.
     
  20. Tom81

    Tom81 Member+

    Jan 25, 2008
    Kudos to UVA! Beating UNC is never easy.
     
    Val1 repped this.
  21. Jules99b

    Jules99b Member

    United States
    Oct 22, 2021
    Watched most of the game (barring a bit of the first half) and wondered if UNC was just going to stomp over UVA. That second half was brilliant from the Cavaliers. What a way to win on the road!
     
  22. Number007

    Number007 Member+

    Santos FC
    Brazil
    Aug 29, 2018

    This year, you have singled out players more than I remember. A midfield 3 is about balance. It is difficult to see how it will really feel unless you are playing equivalent competition. there does not appear to be a natural 8 on the roster and that forces players in to roles that they may not be comfortable in yet. As a team that plays with a lot of structure, freelancing may look good, but it can create other holes. Some players are asked to play multiple roles, others are not.

    Players are monitored and their load is managed carefully. Some players have been in U-20 action, others are returning from injury. If you have specific information about an injury, fine, but I don't see the benefit in speculating on minutes, absolute or relative.
     
  23. Val1

    Val1 Member+

    Arsenal
    Mar 12, 2004
    MD's Eastern Shore
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    I'm covering for a new web site and I have an editor now. The site features more player evaluations than did HoosPlace. I haven't been given specific guidance per se, I'm just trying to fit the prevailing standards.

    Your point is taken, however. Thank you. This is a good team and my primary goal is to ensure these women get their due. STL is a fan site and I am trying to celebrate these women. Do you think I'm coming on too harsh?
     
  24. Number007

    Number007 Member+

    Santos FC
    Brazil
    Aug 29, 2018
    I dont know who you see as your audience. maybe they want that. I would say some of your comments do not sound like celebration at all.
     
  25. Soccerhunter

    Soccerhunter Member+

    Sep 12, 2009
    I personally do not think that you are too harsh. Your criticisms are not personally denigrating in any way as you are only stating your observations about soccer strengths and weaknesses --which all athletes have. My perception is that you are gracious to the person even as you note playing styles and relative strengths/weaknesses. With regard to questioning or wondering what the coaching and decision process is with regard to lineups, "I'd like to know what the coach was thinking regarding xxxx", is only a way of stating that from your outside perspective your are confused/baffled about a coaching decision. Overall. I find it hard to believe that anyone would think that you are not a loyal fan of Virginia athletics involved in promoting interest in the teams.
     
    Val1 repped this.

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