Cavaliers Now

Spaanstra and Jarrett Lift UVA Women's Soccer to Season-Opening Win Over George Mason

Virginia opened the 2022 season with a 3-1 victory over George Mason on Thursday night

Matt Newton

Rebecca Jarrett and Alexa Spaanstra, Virginia Cavaliers women's soccer
Rebecca Jarrett and Alexa Spaanstra led the Hoos to a season-opening win over George Mason :: Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics

Earlier this week, Alexa Spaanstra said it was a "pretty easy decision" to exercise her extra year of eligibility and come back for a fifth season playing for the Virginia women's soccer team. The Cavaliers are undoubtedly happy she decided to come back. Just before halftime, Spaanstra scored the first goal in Virginia's season-opening 3-1 victory over George Mason on Thursday night at Klockner Stadium. 

The Cavaliers, who come into the 2022 season as the No. 4 ranked team in the United Soccer Coaches poll, had plenty of offensive opportunities early in the game, as corners were 8-0 and shots were 17-0 in favor of UVA in the first half. Either by rustiness or just unfortunate bounces, the Hoos simply couldn't find the back of the net. 

Virginia finally broke through with just under eight minutes remaining in the first half. Junior midfielder Chloe Japic, making her UVA debut after transferring from Baylor this year, used a nice dribble move to free herself in the left corner before driving along the end line and sending an accurate pass inside to Spaanstra, who buried her shot in the back right corner of the net for Virginia's first goal of the 2022 season. 

Thunderous applause rang throughout Klockner Stadium midway through the first half as Rebecca Jarrett checked into the game for the first time in nearly a year. The fifth-year forward played in just four games in 2021 before suffering a season-ending injury. 

Jarrett's return was long-awaited and highly-anticipated, but she would need to wait just a little bit longer to score her first goal. Ten minutes into the second half, the ball found its way to Jarrett deep in the box. Jarrett did not get a clean foot on her shot, but the ball managed to sneak through the arms of George Mason goalkeeper Selamawit Caldart and into the back of the net for her first goal since August 29th, 2021. Jarrett's goal was assisted by freshman Maggie Cagle, who got the start at forward in her first collegiate game. 

That goal became even more important when George Mason cut UVA's lead in half at the 72-minute mark. The Virginia defense, which had been essentially untested for the entire game up that point, allowed the ball to get deep into the box off of a free kick, where it took an awkward bounce over the head of goalkeeper Cayla White and bounced off the crossbar. The ball came to freshman forward Josie Stockett, who collected it and shot it past White. 

It is difficult to assess the performance White and the UVA defense off of this game. George Mason had only two threatening scoring opportunities, one of which was handled cleanly by White in her first game taking over for Laurel Ivory as Virginia's full-time starting goalkeeper. With the obvious exception of Stockett's goal, the Virginia defensive line was solid for the most part even though the Hoos were missing two critical pieces in juniors Samar Guidry and Laney Rouse, who are currently in Costa Rica competing for Team USA in the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. 

With 4:04 remaining, UVA buffed its lead back to two goals. Junior forward Brianna Jablonowski sent in a beautiful cross from the left side, finding freshman Maya Carter, who got a foot on the airborne ball to redirect it into the back of the net for her first career goal to make it 3-1. That score held for the remainder of the game as the Cavaliers started the 2022 season with a win. 

UVA outshot George Mason 37-2 in the game and held a 15-0 advantage in corner kick opportunities. 

Virginia has now won 11-straight games against George Mason, but the Cavaliers' streak of six-consecutive shutouts against the Patriots was broken. UVA will be back in action on Sunday at 6pm against Loyola (MD) at Klockner Stadium. 

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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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