Virginia Women’s Soccer Escapes with Win over Virginia Tech

On a weekend when the Virginia football team saw the last shred of a competitive season unravel, the women’s soccer team was in similar peril.  Huffing and puffing across the pitch for most of 90 minutes, the Hoos looked like a shadow of their former selves, regardless of whether you look just at this year or the standards set over the past decade.  Virginia Tech, a decidedly mid-table team this season, as well as ACC program, actually out-possessed Virginia in the first half, and for the game, had three of the four best chances to score.

Anyone reading this far knows the score of the game by now, and that fourth chance did fall to Sophia Bradley in the 85th minute as she finished off a lovely Ella Carter dart to the end line and cross for the win.  It was a backbreaking way to lose a game, but since it is Virginia Tech we’re talking about, that makes the cruelty even sweeter.

Because make no mistake, Virginia was lucky to escape with the win.

For about the fourth or fifth time this season, Virginia just looked “off.”  Continuing a season-long trend, the Cavaliers just turn the ball over way too many times to be considered a good team.  And I’m not talking about losing contested balls or getting pressed, which Virginia is susceptible to.  No, I’m talking about the inexplicable unforced errors that plague this iteration of the team.  Balls struck out to wide players that are a good five yards off target and roll out of bounds.  (I counted four of those in one ten-minute stretch late in the first half.)  Similarly, a half dozen passes when the Cavs were trying to advance the ball up band-by-band, where teammates were missed by five yards.  Five or six Gio Canali back flicks that were easy turnovers.  Too many passes to count where Hoos hit their teammates on their back foot.  It was one sloppy pass after another.

It’s been four years since the NCAA eliminated overtime for regular season games and allowed these games to end in a tie.  While I am a soccer fan, my American sensibility comes to the fore here and I have rued the increase in tied games.  I admit it, I want to see wins.  But this game, on this night?  I wouldn’t have wanted to see 20 more minutes of soccer.  (I’d jotted the above in my notebook with about six minutes remaining; Bradley would score the game-winner less than a minute later, reminding me that soccer is a 90-minute game, both to the players and to the fans.)

With a tie, Virginia would have been 3 – 3 – 1 with ten points and still to face Louisville, Clemson and Duke.  With the win, Virginia has climbed back into the top six in the ACC and they control their own destiny.

The star of the game was, obviously Bradley.  She got the game-winner after all and she has thoroughly supplanted Allie Ross in the lineup.  The unsung hero of the game, is a little more unlikely:  Sarah Flammia, who came into the game with 25 minutes remaining and helped Virginia finally take over the game.  With her entrance, Virginia finally started playing Virginia soccer, and the key to that is maintaining possession.  I don’t think Flammia turned the ball over once.  I don’t want to belittle Sarah by comparing her to her sister, Jill, but Virginia has missed having a Flammia on the pitch this season.  Sarah is stepping up and it is fun to see her step out of Jill’s shadow.

Sarah is also an upgrade over Jordyn Hardeman at this point, and while there is much to like about Hardeman’s game, she is, to put it simply, a turnover waiting to happen.  When she gets her pocket picked, and this happens two-four times per game, the other team is off to the races.  The Hardeman – Carter double pivot isn’t working and I suspect Swanson knows this.  For the first time all season, Carter played to the right of Hardeman while Jordyn was mostly a center mid.  The left spot was covered by Addison Halpern dropping back (which works because Halpern has an amazing motor.)

Virginia looked better when Carter was back on the left and Flammia was on the right.  Head coach Steve Swanson has already made the move of starting Bradley over Ross.  Whether he be able to make the similar move of elevating Flammia over Hardeman will go a long way towards determining how successful the Hoos are going forward.

The Verdict:  Virginia is fortunate to walk away with the win, but beating Virginia Tech is its own reward.  The old live-to-fight-another-day adage applies.

Next Up:  Virgina hosts Clemson next Thursday, October 22nd.  Game time is 7:00pm and the game can be streamed on ACC Network Extra.