After forcing overtime in dramatic fashion, the Virginia women’s soccer team suffered its first loss of the season Thursday night against No. 7 Notre Dame. The No. 1 Cavaliers (7-1-1, 1-1-0 ACC) trailed 1-0 for most of the match, after the Irish (8-1-1, 1-1-0 ACC) capitalized on a defensive breakdown in the 12th minute.
A Cavalier defender opted to bend the ball out wide rather than pass back to junior goalkeeper Morgan Stearns. Notre Dame sophomore midfielder Sabrina Flores intercepted the clearance with ease and cleverly reversed the field to surging senior forward Anna Maria Gilbertson, who converted. Credit to Gilbertson, but Virginia could have prevented the score.
“We got caught on the transition and didn’t get back as quickly as we could’ve or should’ve,” coach Steve Swanson said. “She made a really good first touch to at least get an angle on the shot and hit it well. But we turned the ball over and got countered, so the goal is on us.”
Senior captain and center back Emily Sonnett — who misread a deflection off Stearns and consequently couldn’t make the save off the goal line — huddled everybody up then, leading her team when it mattered most.
“We’d been a little frantic up to that point,” Sonnett said. “I told everyone to take a deep breath, find feet, make good decisions out of the back moving forward and to keep working so hopefully we could get one back.”
Sonnett’s message didn’t sink in until the second half. Throughout the first period, the Cavaliers were flat and had trouble dealing with the Fighting Irish’s high pressure. Virginia wishes it could turn back the clock.
“We lost the game in the first half,” Swanson said. “They came out very hard, and we didn’t respond to the way they were defending us. We turned the ball over quite a bit.”
The Cavaliers started playing their game in the second half. Notre Dame forwards and midfielders dropped back behind the ball, allowing Virginia to push forward and combine more passes. The danger of going aggressively at such a defensive formation, however, is the risk of becoming susceptible to the counterattack — one that the Cavaliers were willing to take.
“We didn’t have any momentum in the first half or start of the second,” junior forward Morgan Reuther said. “It took us too long to adjust to their pressure. Once they backed off a little bit, we were able to make things happen and push for a goal.”
Virginia doesn’t quit. It didn’t quit down 1-0 to UCLA or 2-1 to Pepperdine on the road, and it didn’t quit Thursday night. The Cavaliers pushed and pushed for an equalizer before the ball fell right at Reuther’s feet, and she buried it home at 84:29.
“We definitely did a great job of getting the ball down the line and getting it into the box,” Reuther said. “[Senior forward] Brittany [Ratcliffe] had a really good go at it. I was just fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time.”
Reuther’s goal and the ensuing Klöckner eruption — which some say those strolling along Central Grounds could hear — ignited Virginia. The Cavaliers gave everything left in the tank, causing havoc in the Irish box, but couldn’t get another goal before the end of regulation.
That proved to be costly, as Virginia didn’t produce a single shot in overtime.
Nearly four minutes into the second overtime period, Gilbertson — who scored the first Irish goal — netted the game winner. To fans the play happened in the blink of an eye. To Swanson it developed from poor defending.
“At this stage, we gave a kid an open shot at the top of the 18,” Swanson said. “We got driven back too far and didn’t react quickly enough to step up and challenge the shot. You’ve got to give her credit though [for making us pay]. She buried it, and didn’t give our keeper a chance.”
Their 38-game home winning streak snapped and 2015 record blemished, the Cavaliers could sulk for days, weeks, even months about that golden-goal loss to Notre Dame. But that’s not how champions operate.
“It’s time to focus on Duke,” Sonnett said. “We can’t really do anything about tonight. [Coach] Steve said it’s in the back of our mind. We’re off tomorrow to recover, practice Saturday, and another big game Sunday.”
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