Virginia Women’s Soccer Escapes from Louisville with a Draw

In the nine days since Virginia played Iowa to a scoreless draw, the women had seen their drop in the polls continue as the team slid down to No. 20. This is the lowest I have seen the team so ranked in at least six years. With less than 10 minutes remaining, it looked like the women were destined to lose, and had they done so, they would probably have dropped out of the top 25. But the single biggest constant in head coach Steve Swanson’s teams is that they never give up, and Saturday night was just another entry in the ledger as Meredith McDermott scored late in the game to earn the result.

You know how the first 5-10 minutes of game often start our slowly as the teams try to get the measure of each other. It’s a cagey and deliberate period of the match. On this night, the entire first half was like this as both teams were plodding and overly deliberate. Louisville may have written the book on how the Cavaliers should be defended the rest of the season. The Louisville forwards defended high without pressing too hard. Virginia is too good in possession and attackers can get winded chasing needlessly. Instead they kept the ball in front of them and denied Virginia defenders Talia Staude and Lacey McCormack their usual passing channels.

It was a good move on their part because the pair continued their season-long trend of bypassing the midfielder trying to connect with the forwards instead. I tracked it this game and only counted 30 passes from a defender to midfielder all game. That is staggering to me. There’s no build-up, no possession with purpose. Sure, lots of passes back and forth along the back four, but it is negative soccer. Swanson in his postgame remarks to my colleague Matt Newton has frequently bemoaned “missed balls and errant passes.” I think that’s on the defenders. McCormack especially had a rough night with her distribution as she must have had 10 passes sail over her intended targets.

Swanson, who had gone with an unbalanced 4-4-3 the last two games, returned back to his tried and true balanced 4-4-3, but he didn’t get the usual width that he’s been accustomed to from outside defenders Samar Guidry, Chloe Japic and Aniyah Collier. Guidry did the best job staying wide and offering herself as a target, but it’s strange. Two years ago she was the best dribbler in the ACC, but it’s like she’s forgotten. She is simply not the player she was her freshman year. Japic has struggled on the right flank. Four or five times she advanced deep on the right, and she was out wide like Swanson prefers it, and she never got the ball. It’s human nature; if you’re not going to get the ball when you make the runs, eventually you stop making the runs. When Collier gets the ball she attacks very quickly – she has elite change of pace for her first step or two, but she consistently drives the ball into the middle of the field, much like an inverted winger, instead of staying wide. It’s not bad soccer on her part, it’s just narrow soccer, and it plays right into the strategy of packing the midfield. Something that has worked for Michigan, Iowa, and now Louisville.

The fix seems easy to me: the midfield has to see more of the ball. First-year Yuna McCormack couldn’t have had more than 20 touches on the ball. She’s got a nifty turn and she had one of the few good scoring chances for the Hoos late in the game. Alexis Theoret is my favorite player to watch, but either she doesn’t get herself open in a way that makes Staude or Lacey McCormack comfortable, or again it is by design, but she needs the ball. She is much more capable of playing the deep ball to the forwards. In fact, she played the ball to Maggie Cagle that lead to the equalizer. And then, there is right midfield. Jill Flammia normally holds down that spot, but she took a knock against Iowa and was missing on this day. Laughlin Ryan got the start, but even with her recovery, she missed the Iowa game, so she must still not be at full strength. She’s got a great turn and good vision, and all three times in the first half that Cagle was in a dangerous position, it was Ryan who delivered the ball. It’s apparent that her minutes will be watched this season, and I don’t know about her fitness levels, but her foot speed is increasing. She’s getting faster.

So it was a dour first half and as the second half began I was ready for the team to switch into higher gear, as they have much of this season. I would be wrong. It was Louisville that came out fired out and the Cardinals had the Cavs on the ropes for half’s opening 5-8 minutes. Louisville is a tough team, and even just four years ago, they could make the case that they were the best team in the ACC just outside of the Big Three of UNC, FSU and Virginia. This year they have started slowly, winning just one of their first seven games, but they are organized and physical. Heretofore in this young season, they have lacked the cutting edge, but 12 minutes in, they got a free kick. They whipped the ball into the penalty box, the ball fell to Lucy Roberts and she finished with aplomb. 1-0 to the Cardinals and it was Virginia that was going to have to chase. Louisville had never beaten Virginia coming into this game and they were on the front foot.

But as I have said many a time, these women simply do not give up. With about 12 minutes remaining, Meredith McDermott turned on her defender, accelerated away and had a clear one-on-one with the keeper. She tried to sidestep the keeper when maybe she would have been better served by shooting, and as she was about to shot, she was knocked down by Autumn Weeks. It should have been a penalty but instead the referee called McDermott for a push on Weeks. Weeks had played a fabulous game and she’s quite fast, but this was a case that referee was going by Weeks body of work in the game and not this specific play.

Two minutes later, McDermott got redemption. Theoret played a deep ball over the line to Cagle who stepped past a pair of defenders, fed the ball toward the center spot to McDermott whereby she put the softest touch of the ball, guiding it into the right corner. McDermott could barely celebrate so great was her relief at getting the second opportunity.

The goal was obviously a momentum changer and it was all Virginia for the last 10 minutes. Yuna McCormack had a great run and shot that fizzed just over the crossbar. Collier had a steal and drive to baseline before sending in a lovely cross that lead to a corner. On that corner the ball fell in the middle of the scrum where it ping-ponged as no less than five Virginia players got their foot on the ball. Anxious times for Louisville fans.

Louisville would hold on for much deserved tie. It is a good start to their ACC slate. For Virginia, it was the continuation of several negative trends. Lack of control in midfield. More poor short corners and free kicks (Cagle was called offside on a scripted play.) More injuries (nominal center forward Maya Carter logged maybe 40 of her 54 minutes of playing time at right midfield. Virginia has played four Power Five schools now and has but one win to show for it.

Next Up: If the Cavaliers struggled with one-win Louisville, they are going to be put to the test next week as they host UNC at Klöckner. The game is Thursday, September 21st at 7:00pm and will be televised by ACC Network Extra.

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