UVA Women's Soccer Wins at Miami in Regular Season Finale
The roll continues for Alexa Spaanstra and the Cavaliers.
Spaanstra scored her third goal in the last two matches and the No. 8 Virginia women's soccer team earned its third-straight shutout victory with a 1-0 win at Miami on Thursday night in Coral Gables.
In her final regular season match at Klockner Stadium last Sunday, Alexa Spaanstra tallied two goals and an assist to lead UVA to a 4-0 victory against NC State on senior day. Spaanstra brought that momentum with her to Miami on Thursday, scoring yet again in the 12th minute of the match. A Virginia cross got deflected out of the box by the Miami defense, but Spaanstra ran up and delivered a scorching right-footed strike that skipped into the back right corner of the goal to put the Cavaliers on top 1-0.
That one goal proved to be the difference as neither team managed to score for the remainder of the match. Virginia outshot Miami 15-4 and had a 6-2 edge in shots on goal, but Miami goalkeeper Melissa Dagenais made five saves to keep the margin at 1-0 and give the Hurricanes a chance to find an equalizer.
UVA was dominant in the midfield, though, and prevented the Canes from getting anything going offensively. Miami had just two corner opportunities as compared to five corner kicks for Virginia. UVA goalkeeper Cayla White saved both of the Miami shots that went on cage and the Virginia defense notched its 11th shutout victory of the season.
Virginia finishes the regular season 13-2-3 overall and 6-2-2 in the ACC. Up next, UVA will begin competition in the ACC Women's Soccer Championship, which begins on Sunday.
Update: Virginia is the No. 4 seed in the ACC Women's Soccer Championship. UVA will host No. 5 Duke in the first round on Sunday at 8pm at Klockner Stadium. The winner will advance to face No. 1 North Carolina in the semifinals.
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