No. 3 Virginia Women’s Soccer Suffers First Loss to No. 14 Penn State in 4-2 Shootout
The Cavaliers had only given up one goal through six games this season. On Thursday night, the No. 14 Penn State Nittany Lions came into Klockner Stadium and scored on Virginia four times.
Diana Ordonez scored two goals but it was not enough, as the No. 3 Virginia women’s soccer team suffered its first loss of the season against Penn State, 4-2.
Penn State struck first in the 24th minute on a goal by Sam Coffey. Payton Linnehan sent the ball into the box on a free kick and Coffey put the ball in the back of the net off of the rebound to give the Nittany Lions the 1-0 lead.
It took just over two minutes for the Cavaliers to find an equalizer, as Diana Ordonez scored her sixth goal of the season. Lia Godfrey crossed the ball into the box from the left wing. Ordonez was surrounded by three Nittany Lion defenders but managed to corral it to herself with a chest touch before shooting into the lower left corner of the goal to even the match at one goal apiece.
Virginia outshot Penn State 28-13 and had 11 shots on goal to Penn State’s seven. Nittany Lion goalkeeper Katherine Asman made nine saves in the match to hold the UVA offense at bay.
Virginia had many chances to take the lead, but turnovers and defensive mistakes ultimately doomed the Cavaliers.
In the 38th minute, sophomore Laney Rouse played the ball back to UVA goalkeeper Laurel Ivory but left it well short and Payton Linnehan intercepted it and scored easily to give Penn State the lead again.
A minute and a half later, the Nittany Lions scored again as Sam Coffey crossed the ball from the left side and Ally Schlegel headed it in to make it 3-1 Penn State heading into halftime.
Virginia continued to put pressure on Penn State as the Hoos had several chances to get a goal back early in the second half. The Cavaliers eventually broke through on another goal by Diana Ordonez in the 57th minute.
Lia Godfrey sent a beautiful ball across the width of the field to the right side corner to Alexa Spaanstra, who ran it down and crossed it back into the box where Ordonez headed the ball into the top right corner of the goal to bring the Hoos back within one.
Ordonez is Virginia’s leading scorer with seven goals on the season and has scored UVA’s last four goals.
Virginia was executing its offense extremely well and with over 30 minutes still remaining in the match, it seemed to be only a matter of time before the Hoos would find themselves another equalizer.
Penn State had other plans.
With Virginia playing aggressively and leaving just one defender on the back line, the Nittany Lions took advantage of another UVA turnover and Ally Schlegel got loose on a through ball and shot on goal. Ivory slid forward and blocked the shot but the deflected ball continued towards the goal and crossed the line as Virginia attempted to clear it.
The Cavaliers gave up more goals on Thursday night against Penn State than they did in their last 13 matches combined.
UVA continued to have quality chances to try and make a comeback, but Katherine Asman and the Penn State defense stood tall and held on for the 4-2 victory.
The loss marks the first time the Cavaliers have been defeated in regulation since a 1-0 loss to West Virginia on April 3rd.
Virginia drops to 6-1 on the season and will host Oklahoma on Sunday at noon.