The women’s soccer team defeated ACC foe Miami Sunday, 2-0, improving to 2-0 in the ACC.
The  Hurricanes fell to 7-3-2 (0-1-1 ACC) with the loss.
Just 10 minutes into the contest, Virginia sophomore forward Meghan Lenczyk scored her team-leading eighth goal of the season off an assist from freshman forward Lauren Alwine to put the No. 15 Cavaliers (8-1-1) up 1-0 early. In the 35th minute, senior midfielder Alli Fries headed a corner kick from junior forward Amanda Stewart into the back of the net for a second score.
Two goals proved to be more than enough for the Cavaliers. Backed by three saves by senior goalkeeper Celeste Miles, the Virginia defense allowed only four shots in the game while the offense kept the ball on Miami’s side of the field, outshooting the Hurricanes 21-4 and taking six corner kicks to Miami’s two.
Virginia, which swept its Florida tilts with Florida State and Miami, will hold its ACC home-opener against N.C. State Thursday at 7 p.m.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted against a proposed $700-billion financial bailout plan yesterday, hampering federal legislative efforts to reinvigorate struggling financial institutions in the midst of serious economic troubles.
The bill fell by a narrow margin of 228 against and 205 in favor. If it had passed, the bailout would have authorized the Treasury Department to infuse a vast amount of capital into the troubled economy in an effort to stabilize credit.
“It’s back to the drawing board,” said Daniel Keyserling, deputy communications director for the University Center for Politics. Keyserling, who also formerly served as executive editor of The Cavalier Daily, said he thinks Democrats and Republicans alike will soon be in discussions to find another, modified solution to the economic crisis.
“Both parties left this week with the idea that something must be done,” he said. “What that final version will look like — your guess is as good as mine.”
Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va.,  who represents Virginia’s Fifth District, including Charlottesville, was among the majority that voted against the bailout. He released a statement yesterday explaining his belief that authorizing loans to those with little hope of repaying them “may be politically correct, but it is not financially correct.”
Goode also stated that he does not believe taxpayers should bear the responsibility of funding the legislation and that he believes alternative means of generating capital for banks would be preferable.
“Under the legislation put before the House, taxpayer funds from the United States could be used for payments directly or indirectly to foreign banks,” Goode stated. “The calls and communications from citizens in the Fifth District were strongly against the measure.”
Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va.,  who represents Virginia’s Eighth District, located in part of Northern Virginia, disagreed with Goode’s sentiment. He voted in favor of the bill, according to his press secretary Austin Durrer, because he believed the stimulus plan would be effective and benefit the economy.
“We’re hopeful that we can get some sort of package together for Thursday,” Durrer said, adding that he believes after yesterday’s 777-point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average — the largest single drop in U.S. history — there will be support for such legislation.
“Hopefully the downturn we see in the market will spur more Republicans and Democrats to change their positions and vote in favor of some bailout package,” Durrer said.
Keyserling, though, said he thinks some congressmen perceived the proposed bailout as a threat to economic freedom. He said others may have felt that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi politicized the issue unnecessarily by pointing a finger of blame at the Republican Party for the nation’s economic problems.
“It is as much a political issue as it is an issue of policy,” Keyserling said, noting that the factors contributing to the vote’s outcome go beyond simple economics.
A larger percentage of Democrats supported the bill than Republicans. Keyserling said Pelosi’s speech added polarity to the issue that may have affected the bill’s ability to gain support.
“This is an incredibly complex and unprecedented issue and solution,” he said, adding, “I don’t think either side is entering into it lightly.”

As the retirement of Sen. John Warner, R-Va., approaches, two former Virginia governors are vying to take his seat: Republican Jim Gilmore and Democrat Mark Warner.
Dick Leggitt , Gilmore’s campaign manager, said he believes Gilmore is running for the Senate seat to change the state of affairs in Washington, D.C.
“He believes that Washington is a mess right now,” Leggitt said, “and that we need someone in Washington to work to keep taxes low, tuitions low and to protect the taxpayers.”  
Leggitt said among Gilmore’s plans for change if he becomes senator are a broad energy plan, lower tuition for college students and lower gas prices.
“We have a comprehensive energy plan that will help bring down the cost of gasoline, which is way too high because Washington for 30 years has restricted our effort to have access to domestic supplies,” Leggitt said. “And other than that, his plan would be to protect taxpayers. In this bailout situation, taxpayers are [being] asked to bail out all these businesses that made risky loans, and that’s not something that the taxpayers should be doing.”
Warner is also seeking to change Washington politics, according to his press secretary Emily Kryder.
Warner is running for Senate, Kryder stated in an e-mail, “because now, more than ever, Washington needs leaders who can work across the aisle to get things done for the American people.”
Kryder also stated that Warner intends to work across party lines if elected to the Senate.
“Mark Warner plans to build a coalition of “Radical Centrists” in the Senate comprised of members of both parties who are committed to putting aside partisan gridlock in order to get things done for the American people,” Kryder stated in the e-mail. “[He] is interested in working on a comprehensive energy policy, establishing a national competitiveness strategy so all Americans can compete and win in the global economy, and he wants to put the federal government’s fiscal house back in order just as he did as governor of Virginia.”
Both candidates are also working with their parties’ respective national campaigns to help carry Virginia in the presidential election.
“We’re running with McCain and Palin and we’re very proud of that,” Leggitt said. “We’re very optimistic about them carrying Virginia, and we’re right there with them.”
Similarly, in her e-mail, Kryder stated that Warner is a strong supporter of presidential candidate Barack Obama and noted that Warner was “honored to serve as the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention.”
Daniel Keyserling, deputy director of communications at the University’s Center for Politics and former executive editor of The Cavalier Daily, said he believes the contest between the governors will not be a close one if polls remain constant.
“Mark Warner is a clear favorite and barring any unforeseen developments, it will stay that way through the election,” Keyserling said, noting that Warner entered the current race as a favorite and emerged from the convention “as the crown prince of the Democratic party.”
To disrupt the current trend, Keyserling said, something needs to happen that will either derail Warner or significantly energize Gilmore’s campaign.

College Portrait, a Web site that seeks to increase the transparency and accountability of colleges and universities across the nation, was recently unveiled by the Voluntary System of Accountability, a program started by the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. The University, though, has not joined on as a participant, citing concerns with the assessments used.
David Shulenburger, vice president of academic affairs for the NASULGC, said the project has defined accountability “in terms of providing students with kind of information that they needed in order to compare universities and help make university choice.” He noted that students lack information in a “readily accepted place” that would help them compare schools.
John Hammang, director of special projects for the AASCU, said VSA started its efforts to increase transparency and accountability among colleges and universities after criticism from Education Secretary Margaret Spellings’ Commission on the Future of Higher Education regarding accountability.
“The Spellings commission reported during their discussion that they were critical of accountability information that was available to students, and we wanted to be responsive to that,” Hammang said.
College Portrait offers detailed information and profiles of hundreds of universities from across the country, Shulenburger said, with these profiles being divided into three distinct sections.
“The first section is what we call ‘consumer information.’” Shulenburger said. “Students wanted to know how likely they were to fit in and feel comfortable at a given university — the size of the university, the gender, racial and income mixture of students. We provide a lot of information on those types of things.”
According to Shulenburger, the first section of a university’s profile also provides viewers with a “cost calculator” that estimates the general cost a student attending a specific university can expect.
“Parents expressed real anger not at the level of cost but at the fact that it was hard for them to predict how much a university would cost,” Shulenburger said. “It’s hard to calculate how much it will cost for you to get a meal plan or know realistic book costs. The calculator will help students estimate what federal aid they might receive and what the university will cost them.”
The second section of the profile, called “student engagement,” seeks to give prospective students an idea of what it would be like to attend a university based on information gathered through student surveys, including information about extracurricular activities and programs, Shulenburger said.
The final section of the College Portrait profile focuses on measuring and reporting “learning outcomes” at the various universities. Participating universities test students at the beginning of their freshman year and then again at the end of their senior year to measure how much they improved in certain areas over their four years.
“The tests measure three kinds of high-level learning,” Shulenburger said. “They measure critical thinking, general problem-solving ability and written communication.”
Reporting these “learning outcomes” has proven to be one of the reasons many universities across the nation have not joined the program, Shulenburger said.
“The measurement of learning outcomes has been controversial because not many [universities] have history of measuring learning outcomes, and it’s difficult to do,” Shulenburger said.
The University of Virginia chose not to join this program last year, University spokesperson Carol Wood said, because it already is transparent and presents this information to prospective students.
“There was a great deal of thought going into this decision,” Wood said. “There really is no strong motivator for us to [join the program] because we already have so much of this info available on our Web sites.”
One of the other reasons the University elected not to join the program is because University officials did not believe the three criteria of the profile would give viewers an in-depth and accurate view of the University, Wood said.
“Some of the assessment tools they are using we felt did not give good and deep information and … were probably too broad to be of value,” Wood said.  
Wood also noted, however, that she believes the College Portrait idea is a good one, providing all sorts of information about colleges and universities in one central location for prospective students and their families.
“What we might think about doing is creating our own template so it brings all of this information under one umbrella, which would make it easier for parents and prospective students to look at this information.” Wood said.

During Friday’s meeting between U.S. President George W. Bush and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, University alumna Deanna Gordon was one of the officials participating in the presidents’ discussion about the progress of civil interagency groups in Afghanistan.
Gordon, a Foreign Service officer for the United States Agency for International Development who was stationed in Afghanistan for about 2.5 years, said the meeting was held “to talk about progress that has been made to the PRT [provincial reconstruction teams] program in Afghanistan.”
Officials from a number of U.S. federal agencies, such as the National Security Council, State Department and USAID participated in the meeting, as did officials in Kabul, who communicated through a live broadcast teleconference, Gordon said.
“It was an opportunity for the president to speak directly with individuals who are helping the Afghan people rebuild their country,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Scott Stanzel said.
The discussion primarily focused on the recent successes of the PRT programs in various regions of Afghanistan and on what the future holds for the war-torn country, Gordon said.
“It was really more of an operational discussion,” she said, in which officials spoke in great detail and were able to point out significant successes.
“There was a very positive note to the whole meeting,” she added. “Both presidents were interested in what people had to say.”
Despite the current optimism, reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan have not always gone smoothly.
“In Afghanistan, like Iraq, reconstruction has been very unsteady,” University Assoc. Politics Prof. David Waldner said. The problems, he said, have been with resources for reconstruction and “insufficient management of resources.”
Still, “PRTs have been among the most successful type of reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Waldner said. He cited decentralization of PRTs to the local level as reasons for success.
During her first year in Afghanistan, Gordon worked as a special projects advisor with a U.S. Special Forces team in the southern region of the country, she said. The rest of her time was spent with the PRT program in various — often remote — parts of Afghanistan, she said, where she worked with other officials to implement development initiatives and establish better relationships with the Afghan people.
Overall, Gordon said her general impression of Afghanistan was positive.
“There are a lot of bad things going on, but despite all that, there are a lot of good things going on in Afghanistan,” she said.
Many of the positive developments in Afghanistan, she said, tend to get less attention because they are often harder to measure and even harder to communicate.
“It’s not always possible to measure the level of success in establishing a government,” she said.
Waldner also said he sees continuing obstacles for reconstruction in Afghanistan.
“You won’t see steady reconstruction until you solve the problem of security,” he said.
In Gordon’s experience, foreign service officers or military forces often did not have to work the hardest or sacrifice the most to achieve success — rather, the native residents did.
“The Afghans take the greatest risk,” Gordon said. “People that get overlooked are the Afghans that work for us. It changes their lives forever. They are really the ones that are making this happen over there.”
Gordon said she returned from Afghanistan in April and now works in the East Asia Office of USAID and will be headed to Iraq in January. She graduated from the University with a degree in foreign affairs, and during her years as an undergraduate, she said, she mainly focused on Latin American affairs. Studying general foreign policy helped her make the career choice to work with USAID.
“That’s really what got me interested in this,” she said.

Soccer midfielders are usually not the subject of many headlines because high-scoring forwards draw more attention. That tendency, however, is being challenged by freshman midfielder Tony Tchani.
Tchani, just eight games into his collegiate career, is making his presence felt, leading Virginia in goals (7) and points (16). Both totals are extremely impressive numbers for a freshman. Tchani has also recorded three multi-goal games, including two in back-to-back games. To put it simply, the freshman has stepped up and exceeded everyone’s expectations.
“We always thought he had ability; that’s why we recruited him,” Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. “You never know how players will turn out, but he’s made an impact earlier than we expected.”
Tchani played high school soccer in Norfolk, where he attended and starred on the soccer team at Maury High School. While at Maury, Tchani earned numerous accolades for his play, including being named first team All-Group AAA and Player of the Year by All-757soccer.com. The freshman from Bafang, Cameroon has been able to quickly translate his high school success into strong play on the college field for several reasons. First, the midfielder stands 6-foot-4, which allows him to gain position over smaller players. Tchani’s height makes him a versatile and dangerous scoring threat around the goal, especially on corner kicks and cross passes. Second, Tchani has proved himself to be something of a free kick specialist. He has scored on two free kick opportunities in the last three games, including a penalty kick during last week’s victory against Central Connecticut State. Tchani’s accomplished shooting skills make him a threat to score on every free kick.
“We work on free kicks and penalty kicks in practice, and I usually take [those types of shots],” Tchani said. “I would consider free kicks to be a specialty of mine.”
By all accounts, Tchani has exceeded expectations. The freshman, however, when asked if he was surprised at his great play less than halfway into his freshman year, Tchani simply replied, “Not really.”
Tchani’s production has been essential for Virginia this season, especially considering last week’s news. Heading into the year, heralded freshman forward Chris Agorsor grabbed most of the headlines and attention. Agorsor, to his credit, lived up to those expectations by scoring four goals in his first seven games. Last week, however, Agorsor sustained an injury in Virginia’s win against Central Connecticut State that forced the forward to be taken off the field and to the hospital. Agorsor suffered an injury to his left knee while being fouled and will miss the rest of the season.
There is no doubt that Agorsor’s loss is a huge blow to Virginia’s chances this season; however, it seems possible that Tchani can mitigate the effects of Agorsor’s absence. If the freshman midfielder keeps scoring at his current rate, Virginia should have no trouble maintaining its customary winning ways, especially if Tchani continues to excel with free kicks.
Tchani “has taken all but one penalty kick and he’s made them all,” Gelnovatch said. “We didn’t know he was a great PK guy. He’s just done well, and he’s really confident.”

After every Chicago Cubs victory at Wrigley Field, Steve Goodman’s song “Go Cubs Go” plays on the PA system throughout the stadium. Tens of thousands of fans stick around after the final out to sing the entire song, whether they know all the words or not. You may think it’s corny, but I can tell you that when you hear the song after the Cubbies win, you can’t help but sing along.
Eddie Vedder, the lead singer of Pearl Jam, is also a die-hard Cubs fan. He recently recorded a song, “All the Way,” which is playing everywhere in Chicago. The song captures the dreams of all Cubs fans — that elusive World Series title — with the line “Someday we’ll go all the way.” This is another song that gives us Cubs fans hope (and maybe chills).
But even those two songs don’t have the best lyrics around the North Side: Soriano, Theriot, Lee, Ramirez, Edmonds, DeRosa, Soto, Fukudome, Zambrano … now that’s music to my ears.
Every year I hear the same thing from all the haters. “Wait ‘til next year,” they say. Well — dare I say it? — this is the year. If the Cubs were ever going to have a legitimate shot at a World Series title in my lifetime, it would be in 2008. This is the best Cubs team assembled in my 20 years on this planet, and with home field advantage throughout the National League playoffs, the Cubs are bound to win the pennant and beyond … right?
Right. The Cubs went 55-26 at “The Friendly Confines” this year, by far the best home record in the National League. And, call it a Cubs’ fan bias, but I think the Cubs pitching staff was the best in baseball this year and is in great shape for the playoffs. Ryan Dempster and Ted Lilly each won 17 games. Staff ace Carlos Zambrano recorded a 14-6 record, and midseason acquisition Rich Harden went 5-1 with a 1.77 ERA in 12 starts. Not to mention the Cubs have a great bullpen, with young studs like Carlos Marmol and Jeff Samardzija, and veteran Kerry Wood holding down the fort with games on the line.
The offense had a tremendous regular season: The Cubs hit into the top 5 in the National League in batting average, runs, RBIs, on base percentage, slugging percentage and home runs. Based on all stats known to man, the Cubs are the best offensive team in the playoffs this season, having out-produced the other seven postseason contenders. Also, the Cubbies have a great manager in Lou Piniella. Nothing spells doom for this team, unlike in previous years, so yeah, I’m going to be downright optimistic this October.
When asked earlier this year about the fact it has been 100 years since the Cubs last won a World Series, Piniella said he told his players not to hold themselves accountable for the last 99 years but only for this season. This was a brilliant line, and most people really don’t understand just how important that statement was. Sure, it makes for fun conversation and Cub-fan heckling that the franchise hasn’t ordered championship rings since 1908 (if they even did back then), but how can Soriano and Co. be forced to bear the burden of 100 years? The 2008 Cubs didn’t fail to win a title in 1909, 1910, 1911, and so on. So, Cubs fans, don’t freak out about the 100-year thing. It really doesn’t matter.
I’ve waited more than a year to write a column on my beloved Cubs, but I can wait no more. When the Cubs take on the Dodgers in the first round of the playoffs, I ask that you keep your curse jokes to yourself and let me and the rest of the Cubs fans enjoy the rest of the ride. For better or for worse, I’ve been a Cubs fan for 20 years, and this just might be the year that I can celebrate.  
But, if I had to ask the Cubs players to win as a favor, it wouldn’t be for me. I’d ask them to win for Ernie Banks, “Mr. Cub” himself, who never had the chance to play in the postseason in spite of his Hall of Fame career and genuine enthusiasm for the game. I’d ask them to win for legendary broadcaster Harry Caray, who entertained the Wrigley faithful for years without tasting a championship. And, I’d ask them to win for Cubs fans who have been with the team since well before I was born, who deserve to see a championship in their lifetimes.
As Vedder sings, “There’s magic in the ivy and the old scoreboard.” In 2008, there just might be enough magic to end the drought and bring joy back to Wrigleyville. And, you better believe I’ll be singing along with the Bleacher Bums (from Charlottesville) when they play “Go Cubs Go” at Wrigley.

Charlottesville has been the place to play thus far for the Virginia field hockey team, which remains undefeated at home this season.
The No. 8 field hockey team (9-2, 1-0 ACC) returns home to take on Richmond tomorrow at the University Hall Turf Field at 6 p.m.
“We are pretty strong having home field advantage,” freshman midfielder Paige Selenski said. “I feel pretty confident playing at home the next two games.”
The Spiders have had a disappointing season so far going 3-6 (0-0 Atlantic 10) this season. One bright spot was a 2-1 Sept. 26 victory against No. 14 American University in Washington, D.C. The Spiders could not translate the big win against American into momentum, though, as they were dismantled at Maryland to the tune of 7-0 just two days later.
Now, after having just faced one tough ACC squad in the Terrapins, the Spiders have to turn around and take on another strong ACC opponent in the Cavaliers. The Spiders seem to have the talent to play with good teams. They took No. 7 James Madison to overtime and lost, just as Virginia did, and only lost 2-1 to No. 16 Princeton. The Cavaliers cannot afford to overlook the Spiders in trying to remain undefeated at home.
The Cavaliers will regain the support of freshman back Floor Vogels, who pulled her hamstring against Boston College and sat out the Boston University game. Virginia split its last two games in the Boston area, defeating No. 12 Boston College 2-1 and then losing a heartbreaker 3-2 to Boston this past weekend. The loss came in the second set of penalty strokes when the Terriers out-scored Virginia 7-5.
“I felt like our focus going into the games wasn’t really on,” Selenski said. “I think our focus [was more] on Boston College than Boston University so I think we just got caught off guard.”
Despite out-shooting and out-cornering Boston, Virginia was unable to capitalize on many opportunities because of Terrier sophomore goalkeeper Kim Kastuk, who had a career-high 13 saves; however, Virginia senior midfielder Inge Kaars Sijpesteijn and junior forward Traci Ragukas both notched their sixth goals of the season. The game against Boston saw the return of midfielder Michelle Vittese, one of Virginia’s talented freshmen, who contributed with a penalty stroke.
The first half of the trip to Boston was a success as the Cavaliers got their first conference win of the year, defeating Boston College 2-1 in two extra periods. The Cavaliers pulled out the victory despite the fact that Boston College took more corner shots and more shots on goal.
The game marked the first time Virginia had beaten the Eagles (6-2, 0-2 ACC) in the regular season since 2004.
“We have improved on our performance every day and that is what we are all about,” Virginia coach Michele Madison said. “You want to be the best team you can be at the end. It doesn’t matter the opponent you play; it matters what you are doing.”
The Cavaliers will need to continue to improve their play in order to keep pace in the ACC. Their next conference game is against No. 3 Maryland Saturday. This past weekend the ACC beat up on itself, as No. 3 Maryland defeated No. 1 Wake Forest 4-2, and No. 5 North Carolina overcame No. 9 Duke 2-1. The ACC in field hockey is easily comparable to the SEC in football. Every week is a battle; there are no guarantees, and nobody is taken for granted.
“The ACC is a hard conference, so if we lose one, we have to catch up,” Sijpesteijn said. “There are no easy opponents.”

When Virginia lost three starters to cramping in the second half of its 3-31 loss to Duke Saturday, all Virginia coach Al Groh could do was wonder if his team could handle any more blows to a roster already thinned by personnel losses relating to legal and academic issues.
Against Duke, the losses of senior outside linebacker Clint Sintim and sophomore cornerback Ras-I Dowling appeared to be the backbreaking blow. After both Sintim and Dowling went down on the opening play of Duke’s first drive of the second half, the Blue Devils went on a scoring frenzy, stretching a 3-3 halftime score to a 24-3 lead by the time the two returned with 10:47 left in the fourth quarter.
Both players were having exceptional performances before they were forced to the sideline; by halftime, Dowling had two interceptions while Sintim had two sacks and a tackle for a loss.
“It certainly wasn’t helpful to our efforts yesterday to lose those guys,” Groh said. “Clint had three sacks and seven pressures [in the whole game]; how much more would he have had if he would have played the other 20 plays that he missed?”
As Virginia moves forward, the question asked of Groh at his teleconference Sunday was: How does he prevent this from happening again? Groh said this is a situation he has considered since well before the team stepped onto the field this season.
“We had a pretty lengthy discussion here during the summer with [Virginia athletics co-medical director] Dr. [John] MacKnight and Kelli Pugh, our trainer, actually regarding steps to avoid cramping,” Groh said. “Acclimating the body to those circumstances and hydration steps leading up to it — all those preliminary things.”
So why did three players — all of whom did not have a history of cramping, Groh said — suffer such problems Saturday? The humid weather in Durham may have had something to do with it.
“What we have not had very much of — as we talked about on other occasions, too — even throughout training camp was the type of humid weather generally associated through this region through August and September,” Groh said. “And while the temperature [in Durham Saturday] wasn’t unusually high, it was pretty thick out there, so clearly that did have an effect.”
Dowling’s difficulties may have been the most understandable, as this was his first full-time action of the season after being limited in the first three games by a leg injury. Groh said he thought his young corner finally got his speed back against Connecticut, and with two weeks to rest before Duke, Dowling certainly looked back to his old self while chasing down two interceptions and holding Duke star wide receiver Eron Riley without a catch in the first half. His shift to high gear, however, may have been too much, too fast.
“He did not participate in the first two games, missed the better part of training camp, played 20 plays in the third game and then played 50 plays yesterday,” Groh said. “His is more a case of catching up on some of the work that he did not get in training camp — at least, we would surmise that to be the case.”
Sintim’s cramping was perhaps the most curious, as he is, as Groh put it, “one of the most finely trained players on the team.” Though Sintim and Groh both noted that he received intravenous fluids before the game, in addition to at halftime and after he went down, Sintim said the pregame IV was nothing out of the ordinary.
“I always get [an IV] before the game because I know I sweat a lot, and I don’t want to get dehydrated,” Sintim said. “I really don’t know why I was cramping.”
In-game cramps are just one of the Cavaliers’ worries coming off the 3-31 walloping that Virginia suffered to Duke Saturday, in the Blue Devils’ first ACC win since November 2004 — but keeping some of the team’s biggest defensive playmakers in the game is certainly a priority.
“Not to say that two people make the team, because that’s definitely not the case,” Sintim said. “It was just unfortunate circumstances.”

The women’s soccer team defeated ACC foe Miami Sunday, 2-0, improving to 2-0 in the ACC.
The  Hurricanes fell to 7-3-2 (0-1-1 ACC) with the loss.
Just 10 minutes into the contest, Virginia sophomore forward Meghan Lenczyk scored her team-leading eighth goal of the season off an assist from freshman forward Lauren Alwine to put the No. 15 Cavaliers (8-1-1) up 1-0 early. In the 35th minute, senior midfielder Alli Fries headed a corner kick from junior forward Amanda Stewart into the back of the net for a second score.
Two goals proved to be more than enough for the Cavaliers. Backed by three saves by senior goalkeeper Celeste Miles, the Virginia defense allowed only four shots in the game while the offense kept the ball on Miami’s side of the field, outshooting the Hurricanes 21-4 and taking six corner kicks to Miami’s two.
Virginia, which swept its Florida tilts with Florida State and Miami, will hold its ACC home-opener against N.C. State Thursday at 7 p.m.
—compiled by Adam Branham