Less than three minutes into Saturday night's game against the James Madison Dukes, Virginia center midfielder Lori Lindsey scored a spectacular goal to start off what would become a 3-0 victory for the Cavalier women's soccer team.
Lindsey received a cross on the ground from forward Darci Borski that seemed intended for fellow forward Alyssa Benitez. But when Benitez let it run through her legs, Lindsey intercepted the ball and finished a shot into the bottom right corner of the net past JMU goalkeeper Suzanne Wilson. Lindsey's goal, the 21st of her career, gave the No. 14 Cavs the momentum that remained with them throughout the game.
The Cavaliers (8-5) certainly needed that kind of spark against James Madison (7-7). Following a rough 2-1 loss at Wake Forest Thursday, when the Deacons scored the winning goal in the last four minutes, the Cavs returned to their home field and proved themselves a worthy opponent.
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"I think everyone got settled down and thought about the game that we lost," Lindsey said. "Everyone was upset at how we played, so we got together and figured out how to get ourselves back on track. And that's what we did when we came out [Saturday]. We came out hard."
The Virginia attack did not subside after Lindsey's early goal, either.
In the 28th minute, freshman forward Sarah Lane, playing with a slight knee injury, notched her fourth goal in the last five games. Lane came off the bench midway through the first half and scored just six minutes after entering the game. She received a cross from wing midfielder Erin Englehardt and directed a straight-on shot past Wilson to put Virginia up 2-0.
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About 20 minutes after halftime, Borski sealed the Cavs' win with a goal on a free kick in front of the Dukes' net. Center midfielder Katie Tracy made a short pass to Borski, who turned and nailed the ball into the top right corner of the net.
"Darci's goal was critical for us," Cavalier coach Steve Swanson said. "It took the life out of them a little bit. We expected that [the Dukes] would pick it up in the second half, and we knew we were going to have to absorb that. We thought if we could get one [more goal] that that would really solidify things for us."
James Madison had little chance of mounting a comeback after going down 3-0. The Dukes never put together much of an offense and finished the game with just six shots to the Cavaliers' 22.
Expressing pride in his team's successful performance against the Dukes, Swanson noted that his players could easily still have been brooding after the loss at Wake.
"I was pleased with the way we responded after the game on Thursday, to come out here and play as hard as we did," Swanson said. "It's a sign of a good team that can put a loss like that behind them and concentrate on the next game. I think we played well tonight and it got good results for us"
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