Virginia Women’s Soccer Stumbles on Senior Day, Draws lowly Boston College

Virginia was all-but-eliminated from postseason play after failing to convert on numerous chances

You are what your record says you are – Bill Parcells

Or, to put it more soccer-specific parlance, the table don’t lie.

The Virginia Cavaliers started out the weekend sitting seventh in the ACC, a point behind Wake Forest. The Cavaliers needed to win out in their remaining two games both to separate from the pack behind them but to also catch Wake and sneak into the ACC tournament.

Well, Virginia didn’t win, drawing 1 – 1 against a Boston College team that hadn’t won an ACC game all year, while Wake Forest, for their part, knocked off 10-man Louisville for the win. Virginia is currently 3 points behind Wake in the standings, with one game remaining, but Wake owns the tiebreaker by way of their victory over Virginia back in September.

This is the poorest UVa team in a decade. The ACC tournament is out of reach, and it would take a very favorable selection committee to extend Virginia a 25th consecutive NCAA tournament bid. (Virginia sits about 95th in RPI and drawing to Boston College did them no favors.)

The game started brightly enough as in just the game’s second minute a great through ball found Jill Flammia at the top of the box behind BC’s back line. Flammia had time and should have taken a couple dribbles so as to slot the ball past the keeper, but instead she hit the ball first time at the top of the box right at BC’s Wiebke Willebrandt. But Flammia isn’t a striker, that was a midfielder’s strike on the ball. Poor finishing is one reason this team is currently 8th in the ACC.

Two minutes later Yuna McCormack found Meredith McDermott in the same spot, however McDermott was offsides. Nevertheless, everything was going Virginia’s way. Maggie Cagle and Samar Guidry had nice crosses just inches ahead of their targets and Cagle had a pair of glorious shots, one from short range that was deflected and one from the top of the box that drew a lovely save from Willebrandt. The keepers then traded impressive saves with Virginia’s Cayla White making maybe her best save of the season to deny BC before Willebrandt upstaged her by defending another Cagle shot, this one from close range. 

Cayla White with a huge save to keep the Eagles off the board!#GoHoos | #ALLIN pic.twitter.com/sVwQFBqKt1

— Virginia Women's Soccer (@UVAWomenSoccer) October 22, 2023

On three successive corners in the first, BC had mounted quick counters – their team speed seemed better than Virginia’s – but UVa got enough defenders back to snuff out the BC forays.

All seemed to be in place for another strong Virginia second half, one in which I would have predicted Virginia to strangle the life out of the game and come away with the win. Boston College had other plans. Five minutes in Aislin Streicek got a nice through ball, outran Lacey McCormack and dribbled around Cayla White for the one-goal lead.

By this point, Wake Forest, playing the early game, had won. Virginia would need two goals. They got that first goal at the 60-minute mark when Cagle fed McDermott at the top of the box. McDermott made a lovely turn to slip her defender and slot the ball into the back of the net. Energized by the goal and perhaps knowing they needed the win, the women threw the kitchen sink at Boston College, but it was ultimately much ado about nothing.

Next Up: Virginia finishes the regular season on Thursday, October 26th at Syracuse. Game time is 7:00pm and the game will be on the ACC Network. After that, the ACC Tournament will begin the following Sunday. Only six teams make the tourney and last year the ACC sent 10 teams to the NCAA tournament. So, it is possible that Virginia can extend their season into November. But I suspect it will be an anxious week of practice waiting until Selection Sunday.

Senior Day

With the game, Virginia “officially” bids farewell to six departing seniors: keeper Cayla White, defenders Talia Staude and Lacey McCormack, midfielder Peyton Goldthwaite, and forwards Sarah Brunner and Brianna Jablonowski.

Cayla White has started the past two seasons between the pipes and is in the middle of one of the finest seasons ever had by a Virginia goalie. In just two seasons, she’s already sitting 9th in terms of career wins at Virginia, and for the season she leads the ACC in save percentage and is second in goal-against average. In the midst of a mediocre Virginia season, White has been extremely steady, and that’s all you can ask of a keeper.

Lacey McCormack arrived on Grounds as a midfielder and proved her value by being Steve Swanson’s Swiss Army knife in her time here, lining up at forward for two games during the pandemic. The last two years she has settled in on the back line, partnering with White and Talia Staude to field arguably the best defense in the ACC this year.

Peyton Goldthwaite has played minimal minutes in her time at UVa, but she is the eldest of three sisters who are playing across the ACC. One sister plays with Wake Forest and Phoebe plays for Duke, most notably scoring the Blue Devils’ only goal in a 1 – 0 win at Blacksburg. And anyone who scores the game winner against Virginia Tech is a winner in my book.

Brianna Jablonowski’s season was cut short as she was injured seven games into the season. For three years Brianna had been the first forward sub off the bench and she has always brought the energy to the pitch. Sarah Brunner on the other hand, has become the first option off the bench for Swanson this year. She’s fast, tracks back well, and to be honest, I was hoping we’d get another year of her.

And then there is Talia Staude who has been the steadiest performer on the pitch for the past five years. It is absolutely criminal how under-regarded Staude has been in the ACC, never once sniffing even third-team All ACC honors. She is data point 1A in my belief that coaches make for idiot voters. Staude has been rock solid in the back since about the seventh game of her freshman year when her play effectively pushed Phoebe McLernon out to right back. She has played over 8600 minutes in her career; I have probably seen 8100 of those minutes. I’m pretty sure I have never seen her make a mistake. Sure, she’s been beaten because everyone can be beat. But I don’t think she’s made an error.

It’s been a privilege to watch Staude, and all six of these women, in their time in Charlottesville. Best of luck in the future to all!

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