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Virginia Women’s Soccer Falls to No. 1 North Carolina 1-0

The No. 1 Tar Heels came to Klöckner and walked away a 1–0 victor.
Val Prochaska|
Virginia Women’s Soccer Falls to No. 1 North Carolina 1-0
Virginia Women’s Soccer Falls to No. 1 North Carolina 1-0

UNC head coach Anson Dorrance, he of 22 national titles, has 240 ACC wins. UVA’s Steve Swanson has 179, and he’s second only to Dorrance. It was a battle of titans, but despite Virginia showing strongly, the lopsided series (UNC is now 40-5-5 against the Cavaliers) continues.

This was a highly entertaining game as both teams have the quality to dictate the tempo and possess skill across the field. Neither team was going to bunker and both teams would have their chances. On this night, UNC’s Ally Sentnor, who has now replaced Florida State’s Clara Robbins as the Cavalier Killer, converted on her chance early in the second half.

The first five minutes of the game was pretty rough for Virginia as UNC’s forward line completely disrupted Virginia’s back four, making it an adventure to even retain possession on goal kicks. Within six minutes, UNC had a pair of breakaways and they had put two shots on frame.

Ten minutes later, the Hoos had worked themselves back into the game. One of the game’s most interesting 1 v 1 matchups was Meredith McDermott going up against UNC’s Maycee Bell. Bell is a highly decorated senior -- All ACC every year of her career – and while she is overrated, she’s still very good. Bell had her hands full with McDermott who dummied her and slipped this ball to Allie Ross.

Ross was offsides and hit the pole, but the stage had been set for the fight to continue. Two minutes later Jill Flammia entered the game, which was a very welcome sight because she had missed the ACC opener against Louisville. And Flammia is a game changer. Immediately space opened on the right for Chloe Japic who made a great driving run that led to the first of two Virginia corners. I’ve been critical of UVa’s short corners this year, but Maggie Cagle took a pair of lovely, long corners that found their target on the back side of the 6-yard box.

Virginia’s best chance on the night came on this lovely Yuna McCormack drive and shot. Really, a lovely shot. And an even better save from UNC’s Emmie Allen.

Then with a minute left in the half, Flammia found Ella Carter in space on the left. Carter whipped in a cross and it fell to Degen Miller. She had a great first touch, but stabbed at her shot and sent the ball flying from close range.

Any one of these chances could have been goals. While Cayla White had been much busier in the half than Emmie Allen, the three best scoring chances in the half fell to Virginia, and the Cavs failed to capitalize. Carolina is too good, too deep, and has too much team speed.

And this last point is important. Virginia is by no means slow. McDermott has pace, and I’ve been impressed with Yuna McCormack’s quickness, as well as that of Laughlin Ryan, who is just getting minutes after three years of not playing soccer due to injury. But for the second straight game, Maggie Cagle has struggled with the speed of first, Louisville’s Autumn Weeks and now, UNC’s Savy King.

The second half began with a bang, very end-to-end. I imagine that both Dorrance and Swanson told their teams that the game was theirs for the taking. It only took UNC nine minutes to score. Ally Sentnor took a short pass, made a quick turn, and drove to goal. As three Virginia defenders converged, Sentnor faked right, went outside to her left and hit a lovely shot to the far corner. The problem for Virginia is that no one actually challenged Sentnor. Swanson must coach his players just to stay in front of the ball, which works most of the time. Until it doesn’t. Virginia has lost a handful of games over the years to strikers who had too much time on the ball and were able to take the shot they wanted.

But as we’ve seen over the years, these women don’t give up. 30 seconds later, Jill Flammia intercepted an errant UNC pass and hit a helluva shot that just fizzed over the cross bar. Four inches lower and the game would have been knotted up.

And with time winding down – 33 seconds left on the game clock – Allie Ross sent in a cross to Samar Guidry inside the 6-yard box. Both Guidry and Emmie Allen whiffed on the ball and it fell to Aniyah Collier at the back post. It was a freshman mistake. I’m sure she didn’t think the ball would get through, but that was another missed opportunity. That really should have knotted the game up.

Coulda. Shoulda. Woulda.

And UNC left with a hard-fought win.

There was a lot that went right for Virginia. The first is seeing Jill Flammia back on the pitch. A Virginia team that has already lost Lia Godfrey needs Flammia. With Jill playing, Virginia’s three midfielders held their own against a North Carolina team that is back to playing its famed 3 – 4 – 3. Yeah, UNC pinged the ball around more because they had more midfielders, but Virginia’s trio was more dangerous. Alexis Theoret played maybe her best game in Virginia orange. Like Phoebe McLernon and Taryn Torres before her, she turns away from pressure beautifully and she possesses an incredible engine, playing every minute of the game. She also outplayed UNC’s Sam Meza, who while very good, is also highly overrated. During the UNC game last year at Chapel Hill, the homerific announcer called Meza the “best player in America.” Which is a laugh. On this night, Theoret was much better.

Which brings me to the last point. One weakness I’ve observed thus far about Virginia, is that the defensive line is not linking up well with the midfielders. Not this night. Theoret, Flammia and Yuna McCormack saw much more of the ball and were more dangerous than at any point this season. Hopefully this trend will continue. Because with the loss, Virginia sits 10th in the ACC, very much looking up at the rest of the standings. 

Next Up: The Hoos travel to Winston-Salem to take on Wake Forest on Sunday, September 24th. Gametime is 2:00pm. The game is on the ACC Network Extra.

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Published
Val Prochaska
VAL PROCHASKA

Val graduated from the University of Virginia in the last millennium, back when writing one's senior thesis by hand was still a thing. He is a lifelong fan of the ACC, having chosen the Tobacco Road conference ahead of the Big East. Again, when that was still a thing. Val has covered Virginia men's basketball for nine years, first with HoosPlace and then with StreakingTheLawn, before joining us here at Virginia Cavaliers on SI in August of 2023, continuing to cover UVA men's basketball and also writing about women's soccer and women's basketball.

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