Star U.S. women’s soccer player Morgan Brian cheered on her former Virginia teammates from the bleachers Friday night. In turn, the Cavaliers treated their 2014 alumnus to a 3-0 schooling of Harvard (1-3-1).
It was the third clean sheet of the year for Virginia, and 25th during the team’s 36-game home winning streak, which is the sixth longest streak in NCAA history. Cavalier defenders, as they’ve done so often facing elite adversaries, shut down Crimson senior forward Margaret Purce, a contender for the 2015 Hermann Trophy that Brian garnered the past two seasons.
“We just had to be really aware of her [Purce],” coach Steve Swanson said. “She could start on any team in the country. You just have to be cognizant of where she is, and you can’t let her get behind you. I thought Emily [Sonnett] and Kristen [McNabb] did a really good job tonight of holding her in check.”
Purce’s only shot of the match hopped right into the lap of Virginia junior goalkeeper Jessie Ferrari. Otherwise, Purce found herself in a vacuum without any room to breath. Her Harvard teammates couldn’t take advantage of lesser attention — they combined for a mere four shots, none of which were on frame.
Cavalier attackers were more effective. Slashing with confidence in her healing left hamstring, senior forward Makenzy Doniak made the most of her 29 total minutes [all in the first half].
Doniak netted the first goal at 6:32 then added an assist to another Morgan at Klöckner, junior forward Morgan Reuther at 19:46.
Reuther scored the third and final goal for Virginia in the 90th minute. She leads the team with five goals. Trailing Reuther are five Cavalier players who have more than 1 goal this year, emblematic of an embarrassment of offensive riches.
“We have a lot of different players that can score from all over the field,” Reuther said. “And people on the bench are ready to come in and make an impact. It’s really great that we have that kind of depth on our team.”
Apart from Reuther’s late score – and despite its weapons – Virginia struggled to spur quality opportunities in the second half. Harvard used some reverse psychology, perhaps foolishly, opting for a more defensive formation over an aggressive one trailing 2-0.
“They dropped a player back and kept it really tight, and we just didn’t have enough answers creatively or enough ball movement to really create good chances,” Swanson said. “That’s something that we’ve got to try to get a little bit better against, because teams will, at times, bunker in or sit back a little bit more against us.”
Saturday, on their off day between matches, the Cavaliers had a light training session to work on these areas that coach cited, and, according to Reuther, did their best to make the 3:30 kickoff at Scott Stadium in support of the football team.
Less than 24 hours later, on what felt like the first day of fall in Charlottesville, the Cavaliers took on in-state opponent Old Dominion (1-5) at Klöckner.
“After we play Friday, it’s really challenging to turn around and play Sunday,” junior midfielder Alexis Shaffer said. “Forty-eight hours is tough. We’re excited to start playing Thursday/Sunday soon and to have that extra day of recovery. Down the road, that will be vital.”
It did take the Cavaliers a little while to get going on Sunday. Virginia caught an early break, when Monarch junior midfielder Grace Haverly’s strike ricocheted off the crossbar around 3 minutes into the game.
Sonnett and company woke up, and Old Dominion never threatened again. In fact, Cavalier junior goalies Jessie Ferrari and Morgan Stearns didn’t have to make a single save.
But even had the Monarchs been able to place shots goalward, the two keepers would’ve likely handled each smoothly and kept the shutout for Virginia. Because they’ve both excelled so far — surrendering only .57 goals per game — Ferrari and Stearns continue to split time in goal.
“Morgan has been out for seven months, and she’s working her way back,” Swanson said. “It’s hard to be out that long and not be able to train physically with the injury she had. In the meantime, Jessie [Ferrari] has done really well. We feel confident in both of them at this stage.”
Offensively, Virginia sent soccer balls soaring and skipping towards the frame of the goal, something it has done all season. The Cavaliers tallied 27 shots — 13 in the first half and 14 in the second — and three of those found the back of the net. But the team still isn’t pleased with this conversion rate.
“We should’ve finished more goals,” Shaffer said. “The score should’ve been a little bit higher. But as a whole, we played well and won. So I think we’re happy.”
Shaffer scored the first goal for Virginia in the 19th minute, after Doniak cut back and timed a perfect pass for her fifth assist of the season. Shaffer’s well-placed shot crept inside the far-post. Sonnett and her fellow center back, junior Kristen McNabb, added a pair of goals for the Cavaliers at 76:08 and 22:38, respectively.
Virginia now has a week to prepare for Syracuse and the start of ACC play. The team will get to train more consistently than it has during the past four weeks of travel and Friday/Sunday home games.
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