Virginia Women’s Soccer Crumbles Late vs Notre Dame

You can stick a fork in Virginia’s season. The Cavaliers are not making the ACC tournament – they currently sit tied for 10th with Duke and with Florida State nipping at their heels – and I would imagine that they will be considered fortunate to escape the round of 32 in the NCAA tournament.

Sure, there will be a lot of pretty soccer to play; this is a Steve Swanson team after all, and there are players across the pitch that can control the ball and turn away from pressure beautifully. The team is composed, plays with one mind, and in midfielder Addie Halpern and keeper Vickie Safradin, the team has a pair of studs. Lots of teams would love to have Virginia’s problems.

But…

This team really struggles to score goals. In the three games that have mattered, they failed to score vs Wake Forest and Notre Dame and scored a single, consolation goal against North Carolina. Prized transfer Gio Canali, who scored nine goals for a poor Miami team two years ago, was supposed to be the difference maker, and while she is better than Meredith McDermott, this is a pretty low bar.

This was an entertaining game between two powerhouses (Notre Dame was the pre-season pick to win the ACC and Virginia sat at #1 for four weeks last year) still looking for their first statement win. With 13 minutes remaining, a great Virginia counter led by Halpern saw Sophia Bradley lay a perfect, and I do mean perfect, ball at the feet of Canali at the top of the box. Both of Notre Dame’s central defenders had moved towards Bradley and Canali had the entire goal wide open. She could have gone either corner, but she instead dragged the ball to her right, into the path of those two Notre Dame defenders and had to shoot wide. That should have been the ballgame. UNC, Duke, Notre Dame, Florida State, they all have forwards who would have buried that ball. But Virginia doesn’t.

Compounding the problem was that Halpern reverted back to her first-year self, impatient in the build-up and blasting the ball from anywhere. She took five long-range shots in the first 30 minutes of the game. Only one was reasonably close. It is also time for Swanson to start Bradley ahead of Allie Ross. Bradley owned Notre Dame’s left back, especially in the first half, and had a pair of lovely crosses in the first half. Plus, the aforementioned gift she served to Canali. Bradley has improved each year she has been on Grounds while Ross is still the same player she was four years ago.

And the back line? Well, it was almost comical how much Virginia struggled to get the ball out of the back. Instead of playing for corners, Notre Dame would have been better off if they had just kicked the ball out for Virginia goal kicks because they were much more dangerous when Virginia had the ball. In fact, the game announcer opined, multiple times, that goal kicks were a bit of an“adventure” for the Hoos.

Two minutes into the game, Pearl Cecil and Safradin were standing at the ball at the top of the six yard box. Cecil took the kick and literally just passed the ball to a Notre Dame player inside the box. She was too surprised to react and Virginia escaped, but that was the worst giveaway we’ve seen all year. Ten minutes later, Cecil again taking the goal kick, kicked the ball into the back of a retreating Notre Dame player at the edge of the box. Again, this was so elementary a mistake that she didn’t react fast enough, and again, Virginia escaped early.

This has been a long-running problem for Virginia, playing out of the back, trying to break the press. And to be frank, Notre Dame was not as ferocious in the press as we’ve seen in recent years and yet Viriginia was struggling getting the ball forward as if they were my middle school girls.

On the flip side, Notre Dame’s back line was just as bad, committing maybe more turnovers than Virginia’s back line. Except that Virginia doesn’t press. Sure, Aniyah Collier can make things interesting when she is heading the line, but it is rarely in concert with any other teammates. Virginia labors too hard to get the ball out of their back third and allows the opponents too easy a path forward. It’s a bad combination and it’s why this team loses 1 – 0 games to decent opponents that they should have won.

Notre Dame would score in the 83rd minute off, you guessed it, a turnover in the back third. This time it was from Ella Carter, which was unfortunate because she otherwise played a flawless game, running the Virginia attack through her midfield slot. The ball came to Notre Dame’s Ellie Hodson who slid to poke the ball forward to Engle. Virginia had been playing a high line all game which was always going to be risky when facing someone with Engle’s speed. Cecil was the last defender and she had a choice, stay on her feet and try to defend Engle, forcing her wide (which Kathry Kelly had done wonderfully all game long, despite the speed imbalance,) or she could go to ground and make the slide tackle to clear the ball away. Cecil opted for the former and Engle just blew by her for a one-v-one with Safradin. She converted and it was game over. It was only a pair of highlight-reel saves from Safradin in the closing minutes that kept the scoreline respectable.

Swanson knew the importance of this game: he kept his bench short. Kyndal Shuler and Collier saw less of the pitch than they normally do, Bradley did log twice the minutes of Ross, Faith Broering got just a cameo, and neither Mackenzie Mize nor Sarah Flammia saw any action.

The Verdict: Against the preseason ACC pick for the title, Virginia controlled the midfield and forced multiple Notre Dame turnovers in their half. Shooting woes aside, Halpern was the most dynamic player on the field, and after a couple of substandard games, Liv Rademaker was a terror. But poor finishing and poorer touch – three of Virginia’s five corners sailed into the netting – doomed the Cavaliers and left them with six points through five ACC games.

Player Notes: Kathryn Kelly played her finest game as a Cavalier drawing Engle as her assignment for most of the game. Engle has all kinds of speed, and let’s just say that Kelly does not. Playing against Virginia’s high line, Engle got free behind four times in the first half alone. Kelly’s defensive runs back forced Engle wide three of those times and forced rather lame shots. As for Vickie Safradin, well, Swanson has stated that she is the best shot-stopper he’s ever had, and I am not going to argue with him. She was magnificent. But she was hung out to dry and Virginia is walking away with the loss.

Next Up: Virginia travels to Dallas to take on SMU, currently last in the ACC, on Sunday, October 11th. Game time is 1:00pm and the will be shown on ACC Network Extra.

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