At this point last week, the Virginia women's soccer team had lost four of its last five games and was still recovering from a heart-wrenching loss to Clemson in the first round of the ACC Tournament. Now the Cavaliers are skating into the third round of the NCAA Tourney after an impressive 3-1 victory over James Madison yesterday at Klöckner Stadium.
Facing the end of their Cav careers, fourth-year Angela Hucles and fifth-year Jill Maxwell did all the scoring for No. 16 Virginia (13-8-0). Maxwell got the Cavaliers out to a 1-0 lead and Hucles, who generally had her way with the Dukes defense, sealed the win with a pair of goals.
"The attacking half of our game [yesterday] was outstanding," Virginia Coach April Heinrichs said. "In the final third [of the field] we were as good as we've been all year long."
The Cavaliers always depend on their possession game, but yesterday their passing was especially crisp. Tammy Westinghouse and Katie Tracy worked together perfectly to set up Maxwell for Virginia's first goal in the ninth minute. The veteran forward dribbled around fallen JMU goalkeeper Suzanne Wilson before splitting a trio of defenders with an on-target shot.
Hucles boosted the lead to two goals with an off-balance effort in the 25th minute that found the back of the net, past Wilson's dive.
Up by a seemingly comfortable 2-0 margin as the second half ticked down, the Cavs got a wakeup call at the 79:00 mark. High-scoring JMU forward Aimee Grahe burst down the left flank and crossed to freshman Teri Joyce in front of the net, who put home a goal to cut Virginia's lead to 2-1.
"I was telling anyone whose attention I could get that we were coasting" before Joyce's goal, Heinrichs said. "The pressure was off and we felt like we were going to win this game."
But the Cavaliers refocused themselves and just over four minutes later, Hucles put away the game by settling a Maxwell long ball and blasting home her 10th goal.
With the victory, the Cavs avenged their Sept. 10 loss at James Madison (14-7-1), a 2-1 comeback win for the Dukes.
"Virginia played their A-game" yesterday, Dukes Coach Dave Lombardo said. "They were on. I think there was a little motivation for them" after losing to us in the regular season.
"We were ready to play," Maxwell said. "We felt we were the better team."
The Cavaliers felt confident even after closing the regular season with three tough losses in four games -- all to top-quality opponents -- and the loss to Clemson in the Conference Tournament.
"With this team, there was no sense that we had just lost four of our last five games," Heinrichs said. "Our self-esteem told us we're a good team and we've been a little unlucky."
The Cavs will host their third round game Saturday at 2 p.m. against Hartford, which upset Florida 1-0 yesterday in Gainesville, Fla., joining Virginia as the only teams to defeat the defending national champions.
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