Virginia women's soccer senior co-captain Lori Lindsey wasted little time making a case for her second ACC player of the year award Saturday in the Cavaliers' 3-0 win over Mississippi.
Lindsey, a center midfielder, scored the first goal of the Cavaliers' first 2001 home game 18 minutes into the first half. The unassisted goal gave the Cavaliers an early 1-0 lead over the Rebels.
The Cavaliers took this precarious lead deep into the second half until Lindsey was able to give the Cavaliers some breathing room. She scored again to put Virginia up, 2-0, with nine minutes remaining in the game. Junior center midfielder Kelly Worden assisted Lindsey on the goal.
Lindsey's second goal not only gave the Cavaliers some insurance against a possible Rebel rally, but it allowed the team to relax and just play.
"The goal definitely settled us down," Lindsey said. "Sometimes we're our own worst enemy in terms of scoring. We just needed to be patient and our time would come."
"That was a huge goal for us because at that point we were starting to go back and forth with them," coach Steve Swanson added.
Seven minutes after Lindsey's second goal, senior wing midfielder Laura Gaworecki set up junior forward Alyssa Benitez for a one-timer that gave the Cavaliers a 3-0 lead. Benitez led the Cavaliers with seven shots and the Cavaliers racked up a total of 27 shots.
The Rebels managed just three shots on Virginia sophomore goalkeeper Jodi Clugston the entire game.
Although the Cavaliers picked up the 3-0 win, the team missed out on several earlier opportunities to put the game away for good.
"We weren't as sharp offensively as we're going to be," Swanson said of his team's performance. "We weren't all together. We definitely have some things to work on offensively. We created enough chances to really run away with it."
However, he still saw the silver lining.
"It's still a good sign when you can not play to your potential and still pull out a 3-0 victory," Swanson said.
"This is our fourth game and we've been trying to build on each game," Lindsey said. "I think we'll only get better from here, so it should be exciting"
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