The home crowd at a packed Klöckner Stadium held its breath as junior goalkeeper Victoria Safradin calmly waited for junior midfielder Jadyn Holdenried to take a penalty spot with the chance to break the 1-1 tie between No. 1 seed Virginia and No. 4 seed Washington in the 62nd minute. The referee’s whistle blew, and Holdenried charged toward the ball, blasting a laser to the right post. Safradin dove to the right, stopping the shot with her mitts.
Nearly an hour and a half later, after regulation and overtime both ended 1-1, Safradin found herself in an identical situation, this time in the fifth round of penalty kicks and now with senior midfielder Lucy Newlin lined up across from her. Again, Safradin dove to the correct side. But unlike in the first half, Newlin’s shot had just enough lift on it to sail inches over Safradin’s outstretched fingertips, sending the Huskies to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament.
The loss brings the season to a heartbreaking end for the Cavaliers (14-3-5, 6-2-2 ACC), especially considering how dominant of a game they played. Virginia outshot the Huskies (15-2-7, 8-1-2 Big Ten) 29-6, holding them to just two shots in the second half and overtime periods combined.
“Fight was a word that came to mind — I think this team has fought all year,” Virginia senior forward Maggie Cagle said. “Just saw how special of a group we were and we are. I think we've played some of our best soccer towards the end of our season, and we left our hearts out there tonight and that's all you can ask for.”
One of Washington’s shots came in the 13th minute, when the Huskies sent a free kick that hung in the air for seconds before dropping right at the feet of senior forward Kalea Eichenberger. Eichenberger drilled a shot past Safradin — the first goal surrendered by Safradin of the tournament.
“It's one of those things about our sport you really love, and it's hard to accept at times,” Swanson said. “They had two shots — they scored on one, which, you have to give her credit, she ripped it, and we saved the penalty. That was it for them.”
After Washington jumped out to an early lead, the Cavaliers dominated the field position battle, keeping the ball on their attacking side of the pitch. Maintaining possession and generating scoring chances was a different story, though, as Virginia looked out of sync, making passes too far in front or behind the intended recipients, resulting in turnovers or squandered buildup. As a result, the Cavaliers only attempted two shots on goal in the first half, matched by the Huskies, despite drawing four corner kicks to Washington’s zero.
Graduate midfielder Lia Godfrey and graduate defender Laney Rouse were especially active, combining to make a handful of quality crosses into the box, though the ball was often left hanging in the box with no Cavalier making a run with it.
Virginia came out in the second half with a sense of urgency, pressing deep into the attacking third and loading the box with its forwards. The barrage of shots and bodies around the net paid dividends immediately in the 54th minute when a cross from Rouse found its way to junior midfielder Ella Carter, who dumped it off to freshman forward Addison Halpern for a shot that beat sophomore goalkeeper Tanner Ijams.
The equalizer from Halpern was the final goal for the remainder of regulation and the two 10-minute, golden-goal overtime periods, despite the efforts of the Cavaliers, who controlled possession all the way until the final whistle.
Virginia also had a one-player advantage from the 80th minute on when Eichenberger threw a high elbow at Rouse, yielding a red card and ejection, forcing the Huskies to play down a man for the last 30 minutes. Eichenberger’s ejection was the climax of a chippy and physical game where the referees were lenient on calls towards both teams.
“Washington is a very different team from ACC teams that we've played … they're a Big Ten school, so they were very physical,” Safradin said.
With its back against the wall, Washington dedicated its resources to defense, playing the game to penalty kicks. In the 92nd minute, the Cavaliers nearly broke through when senior defender Kiki Maki booted a shot that bounced off the inside of the crossbar and ricocheted right on top of the goal line, coming just a hair shy of winning the game for Virginia.
The Huskies’ sideline erupted in celebration when the clock hit zero to send the game to a shootout, while the Cavaliers appeared disappointed, knowing their season came down to five shots after playing what would typically be winning soccer for 110 minutes.
“Full credit to Washington, I thought they defended hard,” Swanson said. “We knew this was going to be a difficult game — they're very good defensively, very organized.”
In penalty kicks, the difference maker was a terrific save made by Ijams on Virginia’s first shot. It was surprisingly the Cavaliers’ leading scorer, Cagle, who was turned away. Cagle was a perfect 4-4 on penalty kicks this season prior to the shot. While Virginia did not miss another attempt for the remainder of the shootout, neither did Washington.
“Obviously, I'm super disappointed on my end for the PKs, but I'm really, really proud of the group, and especially our second half,” Cagle said.
While the outcome was not in favor of the Cavaliers, it was a gutsy effort in a physical battle against the Big Ten champions. Virginia entered the game down two key players in senior forward Meredith McDermott and senior defender Maya Carter. Additionally, graduate midfielder Lia Godfrey was forced to sit out much of the second half and overtime due to illness, making the task even more difficult, and the feat of playing such a commanding and nearly complete game against one of the nation’s best teams was impressive.
“There's no other team in the country that plays the soccer we do, and it's really special to be a part of that,” Cagle said. “We’re all super sad that we can't move on, but just a really special group.”
The Cavaliers have now made the Sweet 16 10 times since Swanson took over as head coach in 2012. But as has been the story so many times, a season with national title aspirations came up short.
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