This Sunday the Virginia women’s soccer team traveled to Notre Dame for a pivotal ACC matchup. Following the team’s most complete performance of the season, a 6-0 win against Pittsburgh, the Cavaliers came into this game feeling good about their team’s progress.
The No. 8 Cavaliers (10-2- 2, 3-1- 2 ACC) had yet to win a game on the road since Liberty in August, so the team’s 1-0 win against the No. 20 Fighting Irish (9-2- 3, 4-1-1 ACC) could prove vital for their confidence going forward.
The game started out rather slowly, devoid of much action in the first 45 minutes. The Cavaliers managed to outshoot the Irish 4-2 in the first half, but the defenses proved dominant in the period.
Coming onto the field in the second half, Virginia began to put the pressure on the Irish, as they did not want to be held to another draw.
In the 60th minute, the team found the breakthrough, as freshman forward Taylor Ziemer was taken down in the box, winning a penalty kick for Virginia.
Senior midfielder Alexis Shaffer was tasked with the penalty kick, and she calmly converted to give Virginia the 1-0 lead.
The Irish nearly broke through over the course of the final 30 minutes, but Virginia was able to withstand the late game pressure and emerge unscathed.
In the end, the Cavaliers came away with a résumé-building 1-0 victory over a top-25 team to spark their momentum in the six days prior to the team’s matchup against No. 9 Duke next Saturday.
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