Cavaliers Now

No. 1 UVA Women’s Soccer Draws Against No. 3 Florida State 1-1, Hoos Win ACC Regular Season Championship

The Cavaliers claimed the ACC Regular Season title and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament

Matt Newton

Photo courtesy of Virginia Athletics Communications

Add another entertaining chapter to the women’s soccer rivalry between Virginia and Florida State.

In the highly-anticipated regular season finale on Thursday night in Tallahassee, No. 1 UVA and No. 3 FSU played to a 1-1 draw. As a result of the tie, the Cavaliers claimed the ACC Regular Season Championship and the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament, which begins next week.

Just like last year’s College Cup semifinal between these two teams, regulation and two overtime periods were not enough to determine a victor.

The first half was a defensive stalemate, with the two teams combining for just three shots on goal. Corner kicks were extremely hard to come by in this matchup between elite defensive units, as there were only six corners in the entire game, including just one in the first half. UVA had five of the six total corner kicks. Laurel Ivory made both her saves in the first half to keep the match knotted at 0-0.

After a scoreless first half, the Cavaliers struck first in the 63rd minute on a goal by Diana Ordonez. Samar Guidry made a run up the left side and crossed the ball into the box just in front of the cage and Ordonez got her left foot on it to send the ball into the back of the net. The goal was her 14th of the season, six more than the next-closest Cavalier on the UVA scoring leaderboard.

Virginia’s lead did not last very long.

Just over four minutes later, the Seminoles found their equalizer. Yujie Zhao took a shot from well outside the box that curved inside the top right corner of the goal and just past the outstretched arm of Laurel Ivory to tie the match.

Neither team could break the tie for the rest of regulation and, for the fourth time in the last five meetings between the Seminoles and Cavaliers, the match went into overtime.

Although neither team was able to break through for a golden goal, overtime did not pass without some dangerous scoring opportunities for both sides.

Diana Ordonez nearly notched her second goal of the match early in the first overtime period, but her close-range header was saved by Florida State goalkeeper Cristina Roque. Roque finished with four saves in the match.

The closest either team came to winning the match was on a shot by FSU’s Clara Robbins that struck the right post with less than two minutes remaining in the second overtime.

Virginia outshot Florida State 12-10 and shots on goal were 5-3 in favor of UVA, but the Hoos managed just the one goal and the match ended in a tie.

With the draw, the Cavaliers complete the regular season with an undefeated 8-0-2 record in the ACC and a 15-1-2 record overall. Virginia clinched the ACC Regular Season Championship and the top seed in the ACC Tournament. 

The Hoos get a bye through the ACC quarterfinals and will face the winner of fourth-seed Notre Dame and fifth-seed Clemson in the semifinals on November 5th.

Read more from Cavaliers Now

Joe Harris Becomes Nets’ All-Time Leader in Three-Pointers Made

Looking Back at Virginia's Epic Two-Game Series with BYU in 2013 and 2014

Nick Jackson: UVA Football Not Satisfied with 6-2 Start

Dontayvion Wicks Named ACC Receiver of the Week

The Return of Dual-Threat Brennan Armstrong: Finally a Heisman Candidate?

UVA Basketball Blue-White Scrimmage: What We Learned

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