Another game, another down-to-the-wire finish for the Virginia women's soccer team. The Cavaliers beat the visiting Wake Forest Demon Deacons 2-1, despite playing a man down for more than 70 minutes during the game.
Virginia (10-3-1, 4-2-0 ACC) started the game with an unconventional lineup - junior goalkeeper Chantel Jones, ranked second in Virginia history with 30 shutouts, was benched for the first 10 minutes for reasons the coaches said they wished to keep in-house. The Cavaliers still struck early, with senior forward Meghan Lenczyk knocking in a goal in the 11th minute on a header off a pass from sophomore defender Emily Carrollo.
Just a minute later, officials issued a red card to Virginia junior midfielder Maggie Kistner for making an aggressive play on a Wake Forest player. The referee said Kistner's challenge fell under the last defender rule, which makes any foul on an attacker by the last player to prevent a goal an automatic red card. Virginia coach Steve Swanson furiously protested and even called the side judge over to speak to the referee, but the head official would not budge.
Virginia, hoping to hold onto its early lead, shifted into a 1-4-4 formation and worked to slow the game down whenever possible. Even so, it was difficult to tell which team was a man down, as the Demon Deacons (10-5-1, 4-2-1 ACC) were unable to generate chances, and the Cavaliers' counter attack was strong.
Virginia finally capitalized on a counterattack when freshman forward Gloria Douglas received a pass from sophomore midfielder Kate Norbo in the center of the box, took two dribbles to the right and fired the ball past the defender and into the back of the net.
"That was an amazing play by her," Lenczyk said. "That was a game-winning goal; that was the reason we won."
Momentum shifted toward Wake Forest near the end of the first half with the Demon Deacons trailing 2-0 against a 10-player team. In the 41st minute, Jones was given a yellow card in the box, and Wake Forest freshman forward Katie Stengel buried the resulting penalty kick with a powerful shot on the ground.
"That was a disappointing one because now it gives them a little bit of life," Swanson said. "It's a lot different coming out 2-0 at halftime being down a player than 2-1. We talked about at halftime how determined we had to be, and this was more about heart than anything, protecting our turf."
Virginia still generated good chances during the second half. Carrollo had two long runs after defensive plays, both leading to near misses by Douglas.
After the game, Virginia's coaches and players were careful not to criticize the referees, but it was clear they disagreed with many of the calls.
"Obviously it was a little disappointing," Swanson said. "I thought the fans were a little shortchanged tonight in terms of the game."
But there are positives that the coaches see for Virginia.
"I think the one thing we can look at is how smart we played with a player down," Swanson said. "I thought there were times where we really moved the ball quite well being down a player, made good decisions, simplified our game, and I thought that was a big difference"
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