Cavaliers Now

Virginia Women’s Soccer Knocked off Perch by Stanford

Virginia concludes a disappointing West Coast swing by falling to Stanford 2 – 1.
Val Prochaska|
Goalkeeper Victoria Safradin
Goalkeeper Victoria Safradin | Virginia Athletics

Thanks to Virginia’s blazing start to the season, as well as the vicissitudes of the schedule, coach Steve Swanson could have won his 500th career game at the school he coached for three years before coming to Charlottesville.  This would have been a sweet homecoming indeed; the game announcers stated that this was the first time that Swanson had been back to Stanford since departing in 1999.

It was not to be.  Poor finishing, a lack of team speed (especially against Stanford,) and an inconsistent application of video review doomed the Cavaliers to a draw and a loss in the state of California.

Virginia looked sluggish against Cal – I opined that it was jet lag – but even with three additional days in the Pacific time zone, Virginia was on the back foot against Stanford from the opening whistle.  The Cardinal had the most aggressive and effective press that the Cavaliers have seen all year.  Four times in the first half alone, back passes to keeper Victoria Safradin were so pressured that she had but little recourse but to just lump the ball out of bounds.  Safradin was under pressure with the ball at her feet all game long.  I didn’t count the number of throw-ins, but Stanford must have had three times as many throw-ins as Virginia.  Corner kicks are easier to count, and Stanford had a 10 – 6 advantage.

Stanford played at a faster pace all game long.  These are both well-coached teams with an abundance of talent all over the pitch; both played very vanilla 4-3-3 formations, and can keep possession and play in tight spaces.  Stanford was just faster.   One noticeable example stood out:  middle of the first half, the game still tied, Virginia took a corner that sailed over everybody in the box and was rolling out of bounds.  Maggie Cagle gave chase, wanting to retain possession deep in Stanford’s territory.  Stanford’s Lizza Boamah, who started three yards behind Cagle, blew by her and won the ball on the touchline.  She was four-five steps faster than Cagle.  Over thirty yards.  And that disparity was mirrored all across the pitch.

Stanford was also much better advancing the ball quickly.  The went from their third to Virginia’s third faster than anyone has done to the Cavaliers, connecting on 30-yard through balls to Virginia’s 10-yard passes.

While Virginia’s Jill Flammia had the best chance early on:

This game was always Stanford’s. 

With 18 minutes remaining, Stanford got the third of three straight corners.  Just like Virginia surrendered the lead to Cal on a wonder shot, the Hoos were victimized by this Jasmine Aikey gem:

There’s no stopping that.

Bad things happen when you give up two, three or four corners in a row.  The margins for error are slim, and the taker is going to be able to calibrate her placement after a second or third try.

With 11:36 remaining in the first half, I wrote in my notebook:  the [Stanford] pressure is just frazzling Virginia.  One minute later, Charlotte Kohler scored the gamewinner.

Look how many Stanford players are in the box.  The pressure on Virginia’s back line was just unrelenting.

It didn’t help that Ella Carter, heretofore a revelation in the center of midfield, had a second straight underwhelming performance.  Lia Godfrey struggled with her set pieces all game long, three times overhitting everybody on a pair of corners and one free kick.

In the second half, Stanford, noticeably, came out with a much more measured take on the game, systematically playing slower and taking the air out of the ball.  And why not?  They had a two-goal lead against a Virginia team that, for all of their dominance thus far, has really struggled to score.  It was akin to a football team, being up three touchdowns by the half, coming out pounding the ball off-tackle.

In hindsight, it wasn’t the best move.  This is still Virginia, and they are still good.  The Cavs started winning the midfield battle with Godfrey and defender Liv Rademaker seemingly gaining a step. Just five minutes in, and a lovely Godfrey cross missed Carter in the box by a matter of centimeters.  To complete the football analogy, teams that go prevent too early usually pay for it. Game on.

With 29 minutes remaining, a Maggie Cagle cross was handled by a Cardinal defender.  The ref looked at it on VAR and should have overturned the non-call and awarded the penalty, but he didn’t.   It would prove decisive because 10 minutes later, Jill Flammia scored on this wonderful driving shot.

The score should have been 2 – 2 presuming Cagle would have converted the PK, but Virginia couldn’t close the deal as Stanford parked the bus for the game’s last 15 minutes.  Virginia would pepper the box with at least three quality crosses, but as I have written before, the Hoos have zero aerial presence.

Stanford executed the beat-Virginia playbook to perfection.  Press high and speed up Virginia’s back line secure in the knowledge that the Cavaliers are utterly incapable of pressing themselves.  Bully Virginia on the ball – the first half foul disparity alone was 10 – 1 – because this is not a physical team.  Play fast because Virginia’s team speed is average at best.  Play a five-man back line because Virginia struggles to score inside the box.  (Flammia’s goal was yet another scored from outside the box.)

VAR Note/Rant:  Review has not been kind to Virginia this season.  Other than this West Coast swing, the only other points Virginia had dropped were against Georgetown where Virginia was denied a handball in the penalty box.  It wasn’t particularly egregious; I didn’t even mention it in my game report.  Against Virginia Tech, a game that would get stupidly close and could very easily have been tied up as time expired, Ally Ross was denied a goal after VAR couldn’t prove conclusively that she was onside.  Which she was.  Virginia should have been up 3 – 0 as opposed to just a couple of goals.  Against Cal, Virginia was up 2 – 0 with seven minutes to play when VAR overturned a non-call on Godfrey in the box to award a penalty kick.  Remember that there has to be “conclusive evidence” to overturn a call.  It didn’t look anything like conclusive to me, but the ref overturned the non-call, and Cal was on their way to securing the tie.  The non-call in this game?  Shameful.  The handball was not inadvertent.  Cagle had, surprise, surprise, players in the six-yard box, and this handball stopped the cross.  And for the icing on the top, with 10 minutes left in the game and Virginia trailing 2 – 1, Kiki Maki was called for tripping Jasmine Aikey.  It seemed like a 50/50 call to me as it looked as much like Aikey ran over Maki’s already-outstretched leg.  Since this is Virginia and it’s 2025, the ref confirmed the call and awarded the PK.  Luckily, Stanford blazed the shot over the crossbar, giving us the 2 – 1 scoreline.

Next Up:  No rest for the weary as the Cavaliers stop in Louisville to take on the Cardinals on Saturday, October 18th.  Gametime is 5pm and the game is on 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 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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