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UVA Women's Soccer Downs Fairleigh Dickinson 4-0, Advances to NCAA 2nd Round

The Cavaliers shut out the Knights for the second time this season in the first round of the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship

Matt Newton

Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics

In the 180 minutes played between Virginia and Fairleigh Dickinson this season, the Cavaliers have outscored the Knights 9-0.  After beating FDU 5-0 in the regular season back on August 28th, UVA drew the same opponent in the first round of the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship. It was a similar result this time around, as Virginia shut out Fairleigh Dickinson 4-0 on Saturday night at Klockner Stadium. 

UVA earned a penalty kick just over six minutes into the match, but Haley Hopkins had her attempt saved by FDU goalkeeper Malene Nielsen. The Cavaliers pursued the rebound aggressively and Maggie Cagle eventually delivered a brilliant cross into the box for Hopkins, who made up for the missed PK by getting her head on the cross to send it into the back of the cage. 

Despite the fast start, the score would remain 1-0 for the next 50 minutes. UVA attempted 12 shots in the first half, but none found their mark as Fairleigh Dickinson stayed just one play away from getting back in the game. 

Virginia earned its second penalty kick of the match as Spaanstra was fouled in the box in the 60th minute. This time, the Hoos cashed in as Spaanstra calmly placed her shot in the left corner to double UVA's lead. 

The match opened up in the 71st minute as FDU's Paula Ruess was issued a red card, leaving the Knights down a player for the remainder of the game. Still, Fairleigh Dickinson played admirable defense against Virginia and maintained a slim chance of staging a late rally into the final ten minutes of the match. 

Then, in the 83rd minute, UVA officially put things away as Sarah Clark served in a corner and Talia Staude got her head on the ball to send it in for her first goal of the season. 

The Cavaliers weren't done yet. Less than 30 seconds later, freshman forward Meredith McDermott made a great run up the left side and perfectly-placed a right-footed shot in the top right corner for the first goal of her career, putting the finishing touches on UVA's 4-0 victory. 

Fairleigh Dickinson spent most of the time on the defensive end and attempted only four shots in the entire match, as compared to 25 shots for UVA. Two of FDU's shots went on frame and both were saved by Cayla White, who led the Cavaliers to their 12th shutout win of the season. 

Virginia advances to the second round of the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship and will face Xavier in the second round on Friday at 2pm on the campus of Penn State in University Park, Pennsylvania. The winner of that match will face the winner of No. 2 Penn State and No. 7 West Virginia in the third round on Sunday at 5pm.

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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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