No. 18 Virginia defeated rival Virginia Tech 1-0 on a cold, rainy night at Thompson Stadium. Third-year forward Sophia Bradley provided the lone breakthrough late in the match, securing a hard-fought victory for the Cavaliers (8-3-2, 4-3-0 ACC) to claim the Smithfield Commonwealth Clash against the Hokies (6-4-4, 2-3-1 ACC).
Virginia entered Friday night’s contest looking to sustain their momentum following their first road victory and explosive 5-1 blowout against SMU earlier this week, seeking to prove that their attack schemes can continue to succeed on the road.
Both sides spent the opening minutes trying to take control in a tightly contested battle for leverage. In the 13th minute, Virginia Tech graduate forward Eliana Salama found an open look in front of the goal but pulled her shot just wide to the left. Six minutes later, senior forward and the Hokies’ leading goal-scorer Anna Weir threatened again, but her effort missed as well.
The Cavaliers nearly broke the deadlock in the 30th minute when second-year midfielder Addison Halpern sent a collective gasp through the crowd. Halpern, who ranks fifth in ACC goals scored this season, missed a powerful strike that went past the defense only to be deflected off the crossbar.
Neither side was able to establish dominance during the opening half, though the Hokies created a slight edge in opportunities. Virginia Tech created a multitude of pressure as they outshot Virginia 8-4. The Cavaliers’ backline limited the Hokies’ quality looks, as three of their shots were blocked and one was saved by fourth-year goalkeeper Victoria Safradin.
Half of Virginia’s shots were on target in the first half, but they were unable to break through before the intermission. Second-year defender Jordyn Hardeman and fourth-year forward Aniyah Collier recorded those couple shots on target during the opening frame.
“I think hopefully we can get some chances [in the second half] … we didn’t generate a lot of good chances [in the first half],” Coach Steve Swanson said.
Just 45 seconds into the second half, the match’s first corner kick was granted to Virginia Tech, which immediately followed a missed shot taken by freshman defender Celine Kampmann.
The Cavaliers came out aggressively following the intermission and finally found their chances, outshooting the Hokies 11-7, forcing junior goalkeeper Julianna Trujillo into multiple saves.
As the match approached its final minutes, third-year forward Sophia Bradley delivered the decisive moment of the entire match. In the 86th minute, fourth-year midfielder Ella Carter drove the ball and dished it through the box to Bradley, who capitalized on the opportunity and slotted the ball into the left edge of the goal to break the stalemate. Bradley earned her third game-winning goal of the season to hand Virginia a 1-0 lead with four minutes of play remaining.
“I wasn’t gonna go out of this game without getting a goal in the back of the net, and if that meant putting my body on the line, that was what I was gonna do,” Bradley said.
Putting her body on the line was exactly what it took to bring home a rivalry match defined by physicality. Throughout the 90 minutes, the physicality remained on full display as the two teams combined for 21 fouls. Fourteen of those fouls were committed by Virginia Tech — two of which were yellow cards — and seven came from the Cavaliers.
In the final four minutes of the game, Virginia Tech was unable to find the equalizer they needed, resulting in their fifth-straight loss to Virginia in the Commonwealth Clash, with their last win in this matchup coming in 2018. The Cavaliers improved to 26-4-2 in their overall series against the Hokies.
“It was great to see us win the game and get three points in the ACC,” Swanson said. “This is a tough place to play; any place in the ACC is a tough place to play, but this in particular, because it’s a rivalry game. We weren’t as sharp as we normally are and didn’t have many shots on frame. Defensively, we held … we bent, but we didn’t break and got the goal at the end. I’m proud of the team. We showed a lot of resilience and grit.”
After earning three points in the ACC and winning a rival match on the road, Virginia takes its momentum back to Klöckner Stadium, Thursday at 7 p.m., as the squad faces off against Clemson.
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