In the win-or-go-home environment of the NCAA tournament, there is little room for error, yet plenty of room for disappointment. The Virginia women's soccer team came in heavily favored in their first match of the tournament, against Monmouth, but understood the stakes and unpredictability that go hand in hand with a single-elimination tournament.
In the end, No. 15 Virginia (14-4-2, 6-2-2 ACC) advanced in the NCAA Tournament, thanks to a 4-1 win against Monmouth (14-5-2) Friday night at Klöckner Stadium.
While the score line is indicative of a dominant performance from Virginia, the team was not necessarily satisfied with how they played.
“I don’t think we came out hard or competed too hard tonight and it definitely showed because they did score a goal on us,” senior midfielder Alexis Shaffer said. “We could’ve came out a lot stronger and played the ball more to each others’ feet to connect better, but … we haven’t played in two weeks, so I think that kind of showed, but moving forward we’re on to the next round and that’s all you can ask for.”
Looking at the match, the Cavaliers outshot the Hawks 19-4 and dominated possession for much of the game.
Virginia’s first goal came in the 25th minute when senior defender Kristen McNabb finished off a header from the center of the box to give the Cavaliers a lead. The lead was immediately doubled one minute later, when Shaffer buried a penalty kick to badly damage Monmouth’s hopes of getting a foothold in the game.
The Cavaliers came out after the half looking to score a third, dagger goal to secure their lead, and Shaffer — the ACC Offensive Player of the Year — delivered in the 57th minute.
Shaffer took the ball to the top of the box and unleashed a lovely curling shot that nestled into the top right corner of the goal and left the Monmouth keeper frozen in disbelief.
With a 3-0 lead, the Cavaliers felt confident until they conceded a soft goal 15 minutes later that left the team incredibly frustrated.
“I think we’ve been struggling to get our consistency and we need to play much better in the long haul over 90 minutes,” Virginia coach Steve Swanson said. “We gave up a goal that’s kind of been our MO the past couple of games. … We’ve given up some soft goals and that’s something that is more our focus.”
The Cavaliers never looked to be in danger of losing their lead, but giving up a goal and failing to maintain a clean sheet was frustrating. Virginia put the game away beyond a shadow of a doubt in the 85th minute when senior forward Morgan Reuther put away a rebound to give the Cavaliers the 4-1 lead.
Swanson echoed Shaffer’s thoughts in his displeasure in his team’s performance.
“There is a difference between getting the result and having a good performance, and I think we obviously will take the result and feel positive about the result, but I don’t think there’s a person in our program that feels good about the performance,” Shaffer said.
Looking forward, the team will need to clean up some of its inconsistencies, as it is set to go on the road — where it has been far less successful this season — to take on Penn State Friday.
“I think from the start of the game, we need everyone to 100 percent compete and give it their all,” Shaffer said. “This is the NCAA tournament — if you lose, you’re out and this could be every team’s last game, so everyone is going to come out 100 percent. So that’s the way we need to look at it as well.”
In a single elimination tournament, everything is predictably unpredictable and the only thing that can be controlled is the team’s preparation, which will hopefully lead to a quality performance. The Cavaliers need to take it one game at a time and hopefully continue to survive and advance.
“The NCAA tournament is one of those things … it’s kind of cliché, but you’ve got to really just keep your eyes on the next game ahead,” Swanson said. “I’m confident we’ll be able to do that.”
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