Cavaliers Now

Virginia Women's Soccer Holds Off Princeton 2-1, Advances to NCAA 2nd Round

Matt Newton

Virginia Athletic

Recovering after surrendering an early goal, No. 4 seed Virginia women's soccer (13-5) kept their season alive and advanced to the second round of the 2024 NCAA Women's Soccer Championship by scoring two goals to rally past Princeton (14-5) for a 2-1 victory on Friday night at Klockner Stadium. With the first round victory, the Cavaliers will take on No. 5 seed Wisconsin in the second round.

The Tigers jumped on the board first by capitalizing on a critical early mistake by the Cavaliers. Virginia turned the ball over in the midfield and Princeton took it the other way. Pietra Tordin got a golden one-on-one opportunity and used an extra touch to get around UVA goalkeeper Victoria Safradin before finishing the easy goal to give the Tigers the 1-0 lead in the sixth minute of the match.

It took the Cavaliers less than 10 minutes to equalize, as Yuna McCormack got the ball well outside the box and delivered a left-footed strike that skipped past Princeton goalie Tyler McCamey and into the back right corner of the net to tie things up at 1-1.

Princeton outshot Virginia 4-2 in the first half, but neither team would score again in the first half as the game remained tied at halftime. The Tigers continued to outshoot the Cavaliers in the second half, but it was UVA who broke through for the deciding goal.

In the 48th minute, Lia Godfrey made a nice run up the middle of the field before feeding Maggie Cagle on the right side. Cagle made a move to get the ball from her right foot to her left foot before taking a shot that appeared to deflect off of a Princeton defender up and over McCamey and into the back of the net to give the Hoos the lead.

Victoria Safradin made three clutch saves in the second half, including a couple in the waning minutes of the match, to preserve Virginia's lead and secure the victory.

“That was a good resolve from our group," said UVA head coach Steve Swanson. "We worked hard the last two weeks and it’s not very easy to sit idle for two weeks, train and come back and get a first-round opponent like Princeton. They were very good. What a great season they’ve had. Full respect to their team and program. They gave us everything they had, and we knew it was a game that could have gone either way. I’m proud of our team after going down a goal, especially the way that goal happened, and to come back and get the win on two pretty nice goals is great. We’re glad to be moving on and our fans were really fantastic tonight. They made a difference for us.”

Up next, Virginia will take on No. 5 seed Wisconsin in the second round of the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship on Friday, November 22nd. The Cavaliers and Badgers will likely play their second round matchup at No. 1 seed Southern California, but if the Trojans suffer what would be a shocking upset to Sacramento State on Sunday, then Virginia would be in line to host the second and third round matches at Klockner Stadium.

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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.