The No. 8 Virginia women’s soccer team captured its second ACC Championship in team history Sunday with a sublime 4-0 victory against No. 7 Maryland.
The Cavaliers (16-4-1, 6-3-1 ACC) advanced to the conference title game with a 4-2 upset of top-seeded Florida State in the semifinals Friday. Virginia needed just five minutes to pull ahead of the Seminoles on a goal by the red-hot senior forward Caroline Miller. Four minutes later, sophomore Morgan Brian added a second tally against Florida State redshirt junior goalkeeper Kelsey Wys.
The Seminoles responded in the 12th minute when sophomore midfielder Dagny Brynjarsdottir beat Cavalier junior goalkeeper Danielle DeLisle to pull within one. Florida State evened the score in the 63rd minute, but goals by Cavalier senior forward Erica Hollenberg and Brian propelled Virginia to its fourth ACC Championship appearance in team history.
The Cavaliers’ near-flawless play continued Sunday in a blowout victory against the second-seeded Terrapins (13-6-2, 6-3-1 ACC), giving the team its first conference title since 2004. Virginia dominated offensively in the first half, outshooting Maryland 10-3 and adding the go-ahead tally in the 22nd minute on a strike from just outside the box by junior forward Gloria Douglas.
After halftime, the Cavaliers ended the suspense surrounding their title pursuit with an offensive flurry. In the 53rd minute, Brian knocked in her own rebounded shot for her third goal of the tournament. Ten minutes later, Miller took a through ball from sophomore forward Danielle Colaprico and scored for the fifth straight game. Freshman forward Makenzy Doniak added a punctuation goal in the 86th minute for her ninth score of the season.
Virginia will now wait for Monday night’s NCAA Tournament selection announcement to find out its postseason seed. First round action begins Friday.
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