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​Women’s soccer blasts Old Dominion, 5-0

No. 2 Cavaliers stay perfect against in-state foe

<p>Freshman defender Morgan Reid scored her first career goal in the eighth minute of Wednesday night's contest against Old Dominion, finding the net from just inside midfield.</p>

Freshman defender Morgan Reid scored her first career goal in the eighth minute of Wednesday night's contest against Old Dominion, finding the net from just inside midfield.

After eight games, the No. 3 Virginia women’s soccer team has outperformed expectations as it has dominated early season play. The Cavaliers had outscored opponents 23-3 entering Wednesday’s matchup, and they didn’t look at all slowed by their rough schedule — three games in six days — in their final out-of-conference game.

In its first matchup in 17 years, Virginia (8-0) took it to fellow commonwealth foe Old Dominion (1-3-2) from the opening kick. The Cavaliers built on their top-10 early season offensive scoring performance, besting the Monarchs, 5-0.

“Scoring goals in this game is never easy, but we’ve done some great things this season,” associate head coach Ron Raab said. “It was important for us to come out early and establish the tone of the game, get really after them, start moving the ball … and I thought we had them on their heels a bit early and we did a good job of taking advantage.”

The Cavaliers struck four goals in the first half, beginning with potentially the most surprising Cavalier goal of the season. Off an attempted clear from Old Dominion, freshman defender Megan Reid connected on a volley from just inside midfield in the eighth minute that seemingly spent an eternity in the air before bouncing twice and in for Reid’s first career goal.

“It was definitely a surprise,” Reid said. “I found that I was just going for the ball, stepping up, and got lucky with it, but it turned out that I connected with it well and it went all the way in. It’s not always perfect, but it works.”

Virginia’s next three strikes came in a short stretch of 17 minutes to finish off the half in control. In the 28th minute, junior forward Makenzy Doniak ripped a shot at freshman goalkeeper Samantha Frowen, who blocked the ball away for one of her five first-half saves, only to see junior forward Brittany Ratcliffe streak in to clean up the garbage and double the Cavaliers’ lead — yet another example of the supreme confidence and chemistry the two forwards have forged throughout their careers.

“They’ve been here together, they’ve played their whole careers together here at Virginia,” Raab said. “The chemistry comes with time, working together, and it’s just something that doesn’t come easily but it makes a difference and I credit both of those players for working hard and obviously we’ve been able to reap the rewards of their hard work.”

Just seven minutes later, freshman midfielder Stephanie Krouskos collected the ball on the end line and crossed it to find sophomore forward Morgan Reuther there to redirect the ball into the right side-netting, extending the Cavaliers already-secure lead to 3-0. The goal marked both Krouskos and Reuther’s first points of the season.

Virginia dominated play in the first half, tallying 14 shots to its opponent’s one, but Old Dominion could have conceivably rallied in the second half down three. But with just 26 seconds left before halftime, freshman forward Veronica Latsko collected a pass from Reuther at the top of the box. She then proceeded to slice and dice her way through two Monarch defenders before rocketing a left-footer just inside the post for her third goal of the year.

“I thought that we did a much better job of taking advantage of the quality chances we created for ourselves tonight,” Raab said. “When you can finish those chances it makes a huge difference in the flow of the game and [I give] all credit to our team.”

With no doubts regarding the final outcome as the teams emerged from the tunnel in the second half, Virginia’s senior leaders and wealth of young contributors continued to penetrate, getting shots and chances even as Old Dominion made a conscious effort to have all 11 players behind the ball, attempting to stop Virginia from doing what it does best — scoring goals.

The Monarchs weren’t successful in stopping the Cavaliers, the offense getting on the board just eight minutes into the second half when Doniak chased down a long ball from senior midfielder Danielle Colaprico, took a touch and chipped the charging substitute Monarch goalkeeper — sophomore Erin Kinz — to extend Virginia’s already decisive lead to five. Doniak’s goal moved her into a tie for sixth all-time on the Virginia goals scored list, and into eighth on the program’s points scored list.

“Mak’s been a fantastic player for us for 3 years and she’s grown over the course of her first 3 years,” Raab said. “She’s maturing, she’s starting to learn her role and how she can impact games on a more consistent basis, and I think as she continues to grow and work at her game she’s going to be able to find ways to do that at a higher and higher level.”

Virginia’s performance Wednesday night could be summed up not only by sheer dominance, but also as a night of firsts with Reid’s first career strike, Reuther and Krouskos’ first points of the season and sophomore goalkeeper Jessie Ferrari’s first career start and first shutout of her young career. Additionally, the Cavaliers had a different player score each of their five goals, a feat the team had not achieved since last September.

“It’s really great to know that you have so many people that you can work with and that can finish,” Reid said. “It’s a great privilege that we’ve got a lot of great strikers and midfielders who can finish.”

The Cavaliers have yet another quick turnaround, as they open ACC play Saturday night against the Miami Hurricanes 7 p.m. at Klöckner Stadium.

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