UVA Women's Soccer Stonewalled in Frustrating Loss to No. 3 Florida State

The Cavaliers outshot the Seminoles 21-6, but couldn't break through as UVA fell to FSU 1-0 on Thursday night

Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics

The Cavaliers kept knocking and knocking and knocking, but the door remained closed. 

UVA took 21 shots, 10 of which went on frame, but none found their way into the back of the net. Led by an extraordinary performance by goalkeeper Cristina Roque and the Seminole defense, FSU managed to protect its lead from a goal in the opening minute all the way through to the end of the match, as No. 3 Florida State held off a furious volley from the Cavaliers to take down No. 2 Virginia 1-0 in front of a packed house at Klockner Stadium on Thursday night. 

That large and lively crowd at Klockner was just waiting to erupt all night long, as the Hoos had opportunity after opportunity to score. But that moment of release never came as the Seminoles successfully shut out the Cavaliers for the full 90 minutes. And, thanks to an extremely early goal from Jody Brown, that's all FSU needed to do to pick up a road win against No. 2 UVA despite being thoroughly outplayed by the Cavaliers for nearly the entire match. 

Virginia pressed out aggressively to start the match, but Florida State executed a brilliant series of passes to get the ball through the midfield and catch the Cavalier back line in a vulnerable position. Facing a sudden three-on-two breakaway situation, UVA defender Talia Staude was able to block FSU's pass, but that only served to redirect the ball right to Jody Brown, who had a wide open shot on goal. Brown's attempt went up and over Virginia goalkeeper Cayla White, struck the crossbar and bounced down into the back of the net to give Florida State the early lead. 

Although the Seminoles sat its entire midfield on the back line for the remainder of the match to maximize defensive protection, the Cavaliers still operated their offense extremely effectively and had more than enough high quality chances to find an equalizer. 

Haley Hopkins had several header opportunities in the box. She took six shots, three of which went on goal, but none found their mark. The most threatening came early in the second half, as Hopkins headed a cross from Laney Rouse, but Roque still managed to get a hand on the ball at the last second to send the ball just over the crossbar. 

Around the 60th minute, UVA had another flurry of great opportunities. Freshman Jill Flammia took a shot from outside the box that took Roque off guard, but once again she was able to just barely get a piece of the ball to send it over the goal. A couple of more Virginia shots came from the ensuing corner, but all were denied. Roque finished with 10 saves. 

With less than ten minutes to play, the Cavaliers grew more and more desperate, but the quality of their scoring chances increased. A brilliant through ball left Maggie Cagle with a great scoring opportunity, but Roque came off her line to block the shot at the last moment. The ball sailed into the air before falling to Maya Carter in the box. Carter quickly took another shot as Roque was now out of the cage and trailing the play. Just a few FSU defenders stood blocking the goal, but that was enough to redirect Carter's shot. The ball bounced to Alexis Theoret, who also tried to shoot on the untended goal, but her shot too was blocked by an FSU defender. The amount of times the Cavaliers seemed to have a sure-fire goal only to have it rejected it at the final moment seemed almost impossible. 

With the number of high-quality scoring chances UVA had, the Cavaliers could have easily scored three or four goals in the match. Instead a 21-6 advantage in shots, a 10-4 edge in shots on goal, and a 7-3 lead in corners produced a scoreless outcome and an extremely frustrating 1-0 defeat for Virginia. 

Once again, another Virginia-Florida State primetime matchup came down to the wire. And, as has been the case in most of the recent matches between these two ACC powerhouses, FSU again came out on top. The Cavaliers are certainly hopeful that they'll get another crack at the Seminoles later this season, either in the ACC Championship or NCAA Tournament. 

For now, Virginia (10-2-1, 3-2 ACC) will have to move on quickly from this loss as another ACC foe is set to visit Charlottesville later this weekend. UVA will host Syracuse on Sunday at 2pm at Klockner Stadium, looking to bounce back. 

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