With its 2-0 shutout of in-state rival No. 5 Virginia Tech, the No. 1 Virginia women’s soccer team became the first team to finish the regular season undefeated and untied since Stanford accomplished the feat in 2009.
“I’m proud of the players, but we still haven’t accomplished all of our goals,” head coach Steve Swanson said. “This was a tough game tonight. Virginia Tech is a very good team and they fought very hard.”
Prior to the match, Virginia honored its nine seniors — goalkeeper Danielle DeLisle, forward Gloria Douglas, defender Shasta Fisher, forward Amber Fry, defender Molly Menchel, midfielder Kate Norbo,goalkeeper Churchill O’Connell, midfielder Annie Steinlage, and defender Morgan Stith — in recognition of their final regular season match at Klöckner Stadium. The ceremony continued into the game, with eight seniors being placed in the starting line up.
“They’re just an amazing group,” Swanson said. “What makes them special is that it has never been about them; it has always been about the team. The only thing they care about is the team and getting better.”
The Cavaliers (19-0, 13-0) were coming off of a huge overtime win against third-ranked Florida State Sunday, in which their stingy defense recorded its 12th shutout of the season and allowed the Seminoles just one shot attempt. Sunday’s victory clinched the ACC regular season crown.
Despite the emotional pregame ceremony, the Cavaliers got off to a fast start against Virginia Tech (14-3-2, 9-2-1), with Fry hammering home a rebound after Steinlage took a hard shot from the top of the box.
“A huge part of our success this season is that we have taken it one game at a time. We’ve been in the moment and it’s been fun the whole time. Every game has been a challenge,” Steinlage said.
Virginia Tech’s best chance of the half came halfway through the period, when a Hokie forward made an excellent run to get behind the defense for what appeared to be a breakaway chance on DeLisle. However, sophomore midfielder Emily Sonnett raced back for an outstanding tackle before there was any real threat to Virginia’s goal.
At that point in the game, shots favored Virginia Tech three to two, but thereafter the Cavaliers slowly began to turn the tables. With strong midfield play, Virginia won the majority of loose balls to continually retain possession in the Hokies’ half of the field. In the 32nd minute, Virginia earned three corner kicks in a row and applied constant pressure to the Virginia Tech defense, but was unable to turn the opportunities into a score.
In the latter portion of the period, the Cavaliers continued to press deeper into the attacking third, including a shot from leading scoring sophomore forward Makenzy Doniak that beat the keeper but rang off the outside of the near post. The first 45 minutes ended with a nine to four shot advantage and 1-0 lead for the Cavaliers.
Virginia Tech began the second half with a threat to DeLisle, earning its first corner kick of the evening, however after a scrum near the goal, the Cavaliers were able to successfully clear the ball and immediately counter in the 49th minute, in which Douglas fired a shot off the crossbar, bringing Virginia’s shot total to 10.
But the Hokies soon began to prove their status as the fifth ranked team in the nation after drawing a series of fouls in the Cavalier half. These free kicks allowed Virginia Tech to pile up possession time deep in Virginia territory, but the Cavaliers had an answer each time.
“I think it starts with our team’s competitiveness,” Swanson said of the squads’ defensive prowess. “We’ve got a lot of players on this team who are unselfish and they work very, very hard for one another.”
For much of the remainder of the match, the teams were locked in a defensive struggle near midfield. Occasionally, one squad would threaten the other but long clears became the norm as the game wore on. However, in the 90th minute, with the Hokie defense sucked forward out of desperation, Doniak snuck behind past the Hokie backfield and received a perfect throughball from Steinlage to put the nail in the Hokies’ coffin and seal Virginia’s perfect season.
“I’ve been in sports for 40 years and I haven’t had a team quite like this one in terms of the way they come together and the way the chemistry is and the way they fight for one another,” Swanson said. “It’s just rare.”
The Cavaliers will open the ACC tournament at home Sunday against Maryland, whom they defeated 1-0 earlier in the year.
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