Cavaliers Now

No. 8 Virginia Women's Soccer Shuts Out Wake Forest 1-0

Maggie Cagle scored early in the second half and the Cavaliers recorded their ninth shutout win of the season

Matt Newton

Virginia Athletics

For the first time in 18 days, the Virginia women's soccer team is back in the win column. 

That might be a little surprising to hear when we're talking about a UVA team which is ranked No. 8 in the country and has lost just two matches this season. After knocking off then-No. 4 Duke 1-0 on October 2nd, the Cavaliers, who were ranked No. 2 at that time, suffered a 1-0 loss to Florida State followed by frustrating draws against Syracuse 2-2 and Virginia Tech 3-3. 

Behind an early second half goal from Maggie Cagle, Virginia finally got back on track with a 1-0 shutout victory over Wake Forest on Thursday night at Klockner Stadium. 

UVA outshot Wake Forest 3-0 in the opening 45 minutes and all three of those shots went on cage, but Wake goalkeeper Kaitlyn Parks was there to deny each of those attempts as the match remained scoreless at halftime. 

It took just over three minutes of play in the second half for the Cavaliers to find their breakthrough opportunity. Haley Hopkins turned on the jets to chase down a through ball and beat the nearest Wake Forest defender to it on the right edge of the box. The Wake defense collapsed towards Hopkins who then sent a perfect centering pass into the middle of the box where a streaking Maggie Cagle squared it up and placed her shot into the top right corner of the cage for her third goal of the season. 

The Demon Deacons took four shots in the second half in hopes of finding an equalizer and two of those shots went on frame, but Cayla White made the save both times to preserve her seventh shutout of the year. 

With the win, Virginia moves to 11-2-3 overall and 4-2-2 in the ACC. UVA will play its final home match of the regular season on Sunday against NC State at 2pm. There will be a senior day celebration honoring UVA's seven seniors before the match. 

To stay up to date on all Virginia Cavaliers sports news, follow CavaliersNow on social media:

Facebook: @CavaliersNow
Twitter: @CavaliersNowFN

Published
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.

Home/All Sports