It is rare that a keeper scores a goal for her own side, but N.C. State goalkeeper Kim Kern did just that last night against the Cavaliers, airmailing a free kick into the goal from midfield less than four minutes into the game. Despite the early goal, though, the team managed to recover behind scores from sophomore midfielder Erica Hollenberg and freshman forward Gloria Douglas, earning Virginia the 2-1 home victory.
Kern's free kick, taken at the 3:23 mark, soared untouched through the area as players jostled for position to come down with it. Virginia junior goalkeeper Chantel Jones said she was fouled during the scuffle.
"I don't want to blame anyone, but I went up to get [the ball], I had a clear shot at it, and I saw [an N.C. State player] come out of the corner of my eye and just hit me and the ball went in," she said.
The equalizer came in the 14th minute, as Hollenberg gathered a Jones free kick from midfield in the box. Jones, with a defender on her arm, made a dribble move and tapped the ball into the back of the net from six yards out.
"Well, Chantel kicked it, and I always look for behind the defenders if someone gets a flick on it, and it just so happened that I got on to it," Hollenberg said. "The girl was pulling me, but you just gotta fight through and get a scrappy goal sometimes - it's not always going to be pretty."
After a Cavalier-dominated end to the first half, it was Douglas who finally got the advantage for the Cavaliers off a pass from senior midfielder Sinead Farrelly outside of the box. She took two dribbles to her left to get around the defender and blasted a shot to the upper right corner past a stunned keeper. It was Douglas' third game-deciding goal of the season.
"It's hard to contain her one-on-one," Virginia coach Steve Swanson said after the game. "She got past just the one kid, and you know she did a great job finishing it. She's really saved us on a couple of occasions, just provided a good spark for us."
But despite getting the win, the Cavaliers squandered chances throughout, taking a total of 25 shots. The number of goals Virginia scores is particularly important this late in the conference schedule, when goal differential becomes a factor in tie-breakers.
"I just didn't think we were as sharp as we have been," Swanson said. "Our decisions weren't as consistent as they normally have been either. And our finishing wasn't as good as it has been."
Virginia (12-3-2, 6-2-1 ACC), currently tied for third in the conference, will finish off its ACC schedule with a match Sunday against Clemson (6-12-0, 0-9 ACC) in South Carolina. The Tigers have lost 11 out of their last 12 games, the lone win coming Oct. 24 against non-conference opponent Francis Marion. During its 11 losses, Clemson has only scored seven times, a mere fifth of its opponents' 31 goals.
The Cavaliers trail North Carolina (15-2-1, 7-2 ACC) in the standings, and each team only has one game remaining in its regular season. The orange and blue still have the potential to finish first in the regular season - but that would require defeating both Maryland and North Carolina. It is more likely that Virginia will take a third- or fourth-place finish and see an opening round ACC Tournament game against Wake Forest.
"It's going to be a tough game, you know," Jones said. "They have nothing to lose. We have everything to lose right now. We could potentially be in the top spot, so we just have to go down ... and just focus on beating them"
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