Cavaliers Now

Brunner Scores Twice, No. 4 UVA Women's Soccer Crushes Loyola 6-0

The Cavaliers moved to 2-0 on the season with a dominant win over Loyola on Sunday

Matt Newton

Sarah Brunner, Virginia Cavaliers women's soccer
Sarah Brunner scored two goals to lead Virginia to a 6-0 win over Loyola on Sunday :: Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics

Head coach Steve Swanson was not satisfied with the performance of his UVA women's soccer team after opening the season with a 3-1 victory over George Mason on Thursday. Swanson thought the Cavaliers did not finish well and conceded a goal after a sloppy play on the defensive end. 

We can only imagine that Swanson was more pleased with Virginia's performance on Sunday as the Hoos crushed Loyola 6-0 at Klockner Stadium. 

After needing nearly an entire half to score their first goal in the season opener, it took only five and a half minutes for the Cavaliers to find the back of the net against the Greyhounds. Haley Hopkins got her head on a cross into the box, but Loyola goalkeeper Paige Sim managed to block it with two hands. The rebound came to junior Sarah Brunner, who put it past Sim for her first goal of the season. 

Hopkins had another great opportunity to score as the ball came to her deep inside the box, but her shot went off the crossbar. 

That was no matter, however, as UVA would tally another goal just eight minutes after the first. Lia Godfrey worked the ball through the midfield and passed a brilliant through ball up ahead to Alexa Spaanstra, who chipped it past Sim for her second goal of the season. 

In the 24th minute, Virginia made it 3-0 on Rebecca Jarrett's second tally of the season. A Loyola defender headed a cross away from the goal, but the ball went right to Jarrett at the edge of the box. Jarrett took the shot and it got deflected by a defender on the way in, but the ball still snuck through and crossed the goal line.

Virginia's fourth goal of the first half was a freshman-to-freshman connection. Maggie Cagle sent an accurate through ball to fellow first year Jill Flammia, who used some great touch to ground it past the goalkeeper and into the back right corner of the net for her first goal in a Cavalier uniform. 

Virginia outshot Loyola 15-1 in the first half and had a 9-0 advantage in corner kicks as the Hoos went into the halftime break up 4-0. 

Just as she did to start the first half, Sarah Brunner opened the second half with another goal. Once again, Lia Godfrey fed a fantastic pass ahead through the defense to Brunner, who put it in for her second goal of the match. 

Senior midfielder Emma Dawson put the finishing touches on the win in the 72nd minute, intercepting a pass deep in the Loyola zone and scoring to make it 6-0, the final score. Shots were 21-1 in favor of Virginia and Loyola did not place a single shot in goal in the entire match. 

Virginia improves to 4-0 all-time against Loyola and 2-0 on the season. Up next the Cavaliers will hit the road for the first time this season and face their first big challenge as they head to Washington D.C. to take on No. 19 Georgetown on Thursday at 4pm. 

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Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.

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