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Cavaliers Now

Virginia Women’s Soccer Escapes Late vs Yale

Sophia Bradley pounced on a loose ball and slotted home giving the Cavaliers a 2 – 1 victory over the Bulldogs.
Val Prochaska|
Sophia Bradley scores the gamewinner vs Yale.
Sophia Bradley scores the gamewinner vs Yale. | Virginia Athletics

Men’s soccer (4 – 0 victors over American on Friday) and football (runaway victors over NC State on Saturday) had set the tone for the women as they looked to complete the weekend sweep.  The Yale Bulldogs had other plans.

Most of the pre-match speculation centered on how Virginia would respond to the absences of Pearl Cecil and Gio Canali, absent due to women’s nation team duty at the U20 World Cup for America and Brazil, respectively.  That’s two of the three most important starters on the team.  Yale, however, was missing five presumed starters out with injury, so both of these teams were diminished.

This game was a hot, muggy slog for the entire 90 minutes as it seemed that Yale responded better to their absences.  Yale just played harder, entering into tackles with more aggressiveness than Virginia, and though Steve Swanson tried to run Yale – his starters averaged 69 minutes while Yale’s averaged over 80 – it didn’t work.  Yale matched Virginia stride for stride throughout the game.

Sophia Bradley got the start as the central striker in Canali’s absence and the role seemed to suit her just fine.  Much like Canali before her, Bradley played touchline to touchline and her speed did cause matchup problems for Yale’s backline.  I had feared that Swanson would slot Addison Halpern in up top in Canali’s absence, but he refrained.  Aniyah Collier filled in when Bradley came out.

Virginia would score first on a sweet shot from Ella Carter.  Canali’s superior footwork has given Virginia the opportunity to work the ball, intricately, through the midfield band and then through the back line.  Even in Canali’s absence, Carter and Carrie Helfrich played the same with Helfrich slipping the ball to Carter.  Which she finished with aplomb.  Alexis Theoret may have been my favorite player at Virginia in the decade I have watched, but there is no way she could have scored this goal.

Spoiled as I was after the La Salle game, I was half-expecting the flood gates to open and a minute later, my suspicions seemed vindicated when Virginia was awarded a penalty.  Allie Ross, who was maybe our second PK-taker after Maggie Cagle these past three years, took the penalty, and it was pretty weak.  Liv Rademaker got the rebound and looked to be in good position to score, but she couldn’t get the ball off her foot and failed to score.

The 1 – 0 lead stood for just three minutes total as Yale’s Anita Thorvaldsdottir got behind the Virginia back line and then abused a couple of Cavaliers en route to scoring this goal to level the score.

Really nice goal there.

While Yale played hard, though, that goal was against the run of play.  For the game Virginia would take 26 shots, 11 of which were on goal while Yale had only four shots in total.  But one of them scored.  Such is soccer.

Virginia was in some respects their own worst enemy.  Twice in the first half as Virignia was trying to break the stalemate, they had 1 on 1s with Yale’s keeper but Ross and Halpern both flubbed their chances.  (This was a recurring theme for the Hoos as Collier was handed a breakaway on a platter, which she failed to convert late in the game.)

With Thursday’s rainout against James Madison, perhaps it was a bit of rust following an 11-day break.  But that should have played out sooner.  The second half was more of the same despite Swanson shuffling his starters and making his substitutions sooner in the half.  It didn’t work: lots of heavy touches, lots of balls hit well behind their intended targets, lots of players getting their pockets picked.  The most interesting action was the 1 v 1 battle that Rademaker and Yale’s Tana Sands had on the far side of the pitch. (Let’s just say that Sands more than held her own.)

With 20 minutes remaining in the game, I was preparing myself for a draw.  But as a long Jordyn Hardeman fell behind the Yale backline, the Bulldogs assumed that Collier was going to be called offside.  Collier didn’t play the ball, the Yale defenders relaxed a beat, and Sophie Bradley pounced and converted her subsequent one-on-one for the 2 – 1 victory.

Game, set and match.  Virginia was clearly the better team, but just as clearly, they were fortunate to escape with the win.

The Verdict:  You can only play the team that is in front of you, but Virginia huffed and puffed for 90 minutes against a lower-tier Ivy League team.  The lack of incisiveness is reflected in the less-than-flattering scoreline.  The games will get harder immediately as Tennessee and Georgetown are up next as the Cavaliers get ready for the beginning of ACC play.

Up Next:  The Tennessee Volunteers came to town on Thursday, September 3rd.  Gametime is 7:00pm and the game can be streamed at ACC Network Extra.

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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 ten 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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