The Cavaliers put on quite the display Thursday in their first home game in two weeks, tallying their highest goal total thus far this season and extending their program record 27-game home winning streak.
Virginia (12-1, 4-1 ACC) took down Boston College (8-6, 1-4 ACC), 6-3, in a seesaw battle.
“We got our goals, which is great,” junior forward Makenzy Doniak said. “But to give away three goals I think is not good for us. We take pride in our defending, and I think that we gave so many goals away and I think we can do a better job protecting the ball.”
Virginia took the lead just 10 minutes into the contest, when junior forward Kaili Torres made a strong run to the end line, ripping a cross which seemed to catch the Eagles’ defense off guard as sophomore midfielder Alexis Shaffer cut across the box and finished her fourth goal of the season.
Just three minutes later, Boston College responded when sophomore forward Hayley Dowd slipped behind the Virginia back line and got on the end of a curling cross from freshman defender Madison Kenny.
As the two teams swapped goals, they also swapped a fair share of physical shots. The Eagles were called for seven fouls in the first half, highlighted by a hit on Doniak more reminiscent of the gridiron than the pitch, while the Cavaliers were called for five, with multiple fouls that looked as if they could have warranted cautions by both teams.
“They were pretty physical in the back with us forwards,” Doniak said. “When they hit me like that, it kind of [woke] me up and made me have to stand my ground better.”
In the 16th minute, Boston College’s aggression and physicality backfired, when a rash tackle outside of the box on the right side set up a free kick for the Cavaliers. Senior midfielder Danielle Colaprico stood confidently over the ball and whipped in a driving cross that found junior defender Emily Sonnett, who knocked in her third goal of the year and the defense’s ninth — a testament to the back line’s commitment to contributing offensively.
“I think we’re dangerous off set pieces and corner kicks,” Sonnett said. “Getting the defense up forward is one of our strengths to help the offense score goals.”
Ten minutes later, Virginia got back on the board when sophomore transfer Tina Iordanou found Doniak for the preseason MAC Hermann Trophy watchlist selection’s seventh goal of the season.
The Chino Hills, California native wasn’t finished, though, and in the 28th minute Colaprico finagled a beautiful outside-of-the-foot through ball to a streaking Doniak, who took two moves to her left, beat the Eagles’ keeper, and knocked in her second goal of the game. Colaprico’s second assist of the night moved her into a tie for third with fellow senior midfielder Morgan Brian on the Cavaliers’ all-time assists leaderboard.
“I thought Dani did well,” coach Steve Swanson said. “She’s an integral part of our team certainly on the attack, but she’s one of those two-way players, she’s just relentless, she goes back and forth, and I think we needed her tonight.”
Just before halftime, head official Christopher Spivey made a contentious call when he flagged Iordanou for a tackle in the box, awarding the Eagles a penalty kick. Dowd confidently stepped to the line and finished in the bottom-left corner even though sophomore goalkeeper Morgan Stearns correctly guessed the side.
“I saw two girls going 50-50 for a ball,” Sonnett said. “It’s a forward’s dream to get tackled in the box like that.”
As if Swanson wasn’t fired up enough following the foul call, the Eagles came out in the second half determined to close the gap — and they did just that. After junior midfielder Jana Jeffrey received a pass at the corner of the box, she made a move to her left to shake her marker and rocketed a shot just under the cross bar to cut the score to 4-3.
“We were up 1-0 and then we gave up a goal,” Swanson said. “They’re a team that had a tough result last weekend so you want to put them under, and …. we let them back in the game at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half. That’s about our focus and our mentality.”
With Virginia stepping up the intensity following the Eagles’ goal, Doniak took the game into her own hands in the 63rd minute. On a driving run to the sideline, similar to Torres’ earlier run, she found a cutting Colaprico, who redirected the ball past freshman goalkeeper Darien Dunham to double the Cavalier advantage.
The Cavaliers weren’t finished, however. Two minutes later, the second member of Virginia’s dynamic junior forward duo, Brittany Ratcliffe, got in on the action as she whipped a wide cross that found Shaffer, who headed the ball to charging sophomore forward Morgan Reuther, who then deflected the ball in for the Cavaliers’ second three-goal lead of the game.
“I think we came together as a team and talked about what we needed to work on as a team,” Doniak said. “I think we bounced back really well.”
Virginia’s offensive firepower was impressive throughout, with nine different players tallying points even though the team was without Brian, who was called up to the U.S. Women’s National Team for the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying event taking place Oct. 15-26. As the Cavaliers have done in the past, they continued to adapt their offensive dominance through creative flank play and aggressive crosses which seemed to confuse the Eagle defense.
“You can’t take the skill level that Morgan has and the decision making that she has away and not be affected by it,” Swanson said. “But having said that our team did some really good things without her. We scored some really good goals, we moved the ball well, [and] it’s just a matter of adapting to her presence not being there.”
The Cavaliers complete their two-game homestand this Sunday when they kick off against ACC rival NC State 2 p.m. Sunday at Klöckner Stadium.
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