No. 3 Virginia Women’s Soccer Cruises Past George Washington, 6-1

The Cavaliers’ shutout streak came to an end but the Hoos stayed unbeaten on the season

Photo courtesy of Virginia Athletics

Rebecca Jarrett recorded two goals and an assist and the No. 3 Virginia Cavaliers women’s soccer team cruised to a 6-1 victory over George Washington on Sunday afternoon at Klockner to stay undefeated this season.

The Cavaliers drew first blood just over four minutes into the game on a goal by senior Alexa Spaanstra. Haley Hopkins played a ball towards the cage and the George Washington goalkeeper got a hand on it, but the ball went straight to Spaanstra, who deposited it in the back of the net to give UVA the early lead.

Ten minutes later, it was Jarrett’s turn for her first goal of the game on another good ball by Haley Hopkins, who notched her second assist of the game. Jarrett got the ball from Hopkins on the right side and dribbled in before fitting the ball inside the near post to make it 2-0.

A little over two minutes later, the Hoos added another goal on a beautiful cross from Lia Godfrey to Claire Constant who scored to put Virginia up 3-0, a lead which the Cavaliers took into halftime.

UVA outshot George Washington 19-0 in the first half and 33-1 for the game. Unfortunately for Virginia, that one George Washington shot went on goal and past Laurel Ivory into the back of the net to put the Colonials on the board a couple of minutes into the second half. The George Washington goal, scored by Maria Pareja, ended Virginia’s shutout streak of seven matches and over 776 minutes played without giving up a goal, the third-longest shutout streak in program history which stretched back to last season’s NCAA Tournament.

Virginia answered back in no time at all, as Rebecca Jarrett netted her second goal 49 seconds later on an unassisted run through the George Washington defense to make it 4-1.

In the 66th minute, Alexa Spaanstra returned the favor to Haley Hopkins ,who had assisted on her goal in the first half, playing a ball into the box for Hopkins who flipped it over the goalkeeper to give Virginia a 5-1 lead.

Junior forward Cam Lexow scored the final goal of the game in the 87th minute, intercepting a goal kick and dribbling past the goalkeeper for the unassisted goal.

With the win, the third-ranked Hoos advance to 4-0 on the season. Up next, the Cavaliers travel to JMU for the Fairfield by Marriott Invitational. UVA will play defending national champion Santa Clara on Thursday at 8pm and against JMU next Sunday at 3pm.