Cavaliers Now

Virginia Women’s Soccer Downs Clemson Late 1-0

Lia Godfrey saves (maybe) Virginia’s season with a late strike.

Val Prochaska

Virginia Athletics

A day after Virginia was officially eliminated from the ACC Tournament, the Clemson Tigers came to Klöckner Stadium even more desperate for a signature win amidst a failed season.  Last year, Clemson made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history but a raft of injuries, along with a lot of senior attrition, has left Clemson drifting this year.  Clemson came out and parked the bus, hoping that Kendall Bodak or Jenna Tobia could catch a goal on the counter.

The Virginia Cavaliers, for their part, are still somehow in the picture for a potential NCAA bid.  The Hoos do have five losses on the season, but they are to #1 Duke, #2 Wake Forest, #4 UNC and #7 Notre Dame.  Oh, and reigning national champions and #17 Florida State.  From a rankings perspective, none of those are bad losses.

Women’s soccer uses the largely discredited RPI (Rating Percentage Index) that includes a healthy dose of opponents’ winning percentage to determine just how good teams are across conferences.  So, strength of schedule is still a feature, and because Virginia plays in the ACC, Virginia’s RPI is #12 in the nation.  In addition to those losses, Virginia does have wins against:

Penn State: #15 in the poll and 6th in RPI

SMU: 52nd in RPI

JMU: 53rd in RPI

Utah Valley: 61st in RPI

I’d thought Virginia's season was essentially over, and yet here they are, still alive and kicking.  Virginia head coach Steve Swanson knew that this was a huge game and he came out swinging for the fences with his opening lineup.  Knowing that his team has struggled to score in ACC play, Swanson lined up winger Maggie Cagle in the attacking midfield role which would allow him to start three forwards:  Allie Ross, Meredith McDermott and Sophia Bradley.  It seemed a reasonable move.  I’ve long thought Cagle is better suited to a more central role and midfielders Lia Godfrey and Yuna McCormack ought to be able to boss a two-man midfield against a mediocre Clemson team.

For the most part, it worked in the first half.  Cagle struggled to put her mark on the game, but McCormack (who has an engine like that of Taryn Torres) and Godfrey (who is still showing continued signs of improvement) held serve.  Laney Rouse was especially dangerous along the right flank and she was the most creative option for much of the half. 

Virginia had something like 58% of the first-half possession, but had not given any signs of hope of cracking the entrenched Clemson defense.

The first half had not been an advertisement for “the beautiful game,” and to open the second half, announcer Steve Foss opined that there shouldn’t “have been any panic in the Virginia locker room” as the teams came out.  Foss was correct on one count; the Cavaliers certainly had played without much urgency.  The women had huffed and puffed around the pitch, but for the game, I would take just three pages of notes.  (My game notes usually run 6-7 pages.)  I spent more time noting my reactions to the yellow cards that Godfrey and Cagle received than I did to how the Hoos were playing.  It was kind of a lackluster performance.

With about 20 minutes remaining in the game, and perhaps their season – could a team with a losing record actually make the NCAAs? – the Cavaliers finally found a fourth gear.  At the 72 minute mark, Ella Carter, who’d been dropped from the starting lineup for the Cagle move to attacking midfielder, and who hadn’t seen much time on the pitch because Swanson played forward Maya Carter in the midfield when he gave Godfrey a breather in first half, latched onto a corner and volleyed it home.  The degree of difficulty was a 10 and it was a superb strike.

Laughlin Ryan, however, was offside, and upon VAR review, it was determined that she impeded the keeper’s view.  Maybe I’m being homerific, but it seemed the wrong call to me.

The women shook off the disappointment, because that is what they do, and found fifth gear, to the point where the game winner seemed inevitable.  And really, how many times has it felt like that way since ACC play began?  With four and a half minutes remaining, Tatum Galvin switched fields from her left to Rouse.  The Tigers had been giving Rouse acres of space all game, but this time she didn’t take it, instead opting for McDermott who’d made a nice diagonal side run.  McDermott turned and slid a pass to Godfrey, who slotted it home with aplomb.  Gun shy from Ella Carter’s nullification, my eyes immediately went to the linesman, but all the Tigers were behind Virginia’s attackers.  1-0 to Virginia and Clemson wouldn’t be in possession in the Virginia half again. 

For those keeping score at home, it was Godfrey’s second goal of the season, and her second fine strike with her left.  Just one of many reasons she’s so highly coveted as a pro.

Up Next:  With the win, Virginia moves to 11-5 on the season, and 4-5 in the ACC.  The women play their final game on Halloween Thursday traveling down the road to Blacksburg to take on Virginia Tech.  It’s been a strange season for the Hokies.  They currently sit fifth in the ACC, so in line to make the ACC tournament, but they could only eke out 0-0 draws with Miami and NC State, a pair of teams that are tied for 14th in the ACC.  On the other hand, Tech has maybe the most notable win in ACC play this year, having come back against FSU to score three goals (a fourth was ruled offside) in the final 10 minutes and win 3-2.

An instate game against your biggest rival, when both teams have a ton riding on the outcome?  This is why we play the games.  We’ll learn a lot from both sides next Thursday.

Published
Val Prochaska
VAL PROCHASKA

Val graduated from the University of Virginia in the last millennium, back when writing one's senior thesis by hand was still a thing. He is a lifelong fan of the ACC, having chosen the Tobacco Road conference ahead of the Big East. Again, when that was still a thing. Val has covered Virginia men's basketball for seven years, first with HoosPlace and then with StreakingTheLawn, before joining us here at Virginia Cavaliers on SI in August of 2023, continuing to cover UVA men's basketball and also writing about women's soccer and women's basketball.