A week after putting up five goals in the midst of a veritable monsoon against Maryland, the Virginia women's soccer team extended its two-game scoring drought to 199 minutes as William & Mary sent the Cavaliers to their second straight 1-0 defeat last night at Klockner Stadium.
The No. 12 Cavs swallowed their first ACC loss of the season Saturday night when Clemson's Rachel Gallegos broke a scoreless tie in overtime. Last night, Tribe senior forward Missy Wycinsky had the honor of doing-in Virginia.
As usual, the Cavaliers (7-4, 3-1 ACC) generally controlled possession, but the No. 19 Tribe's speed resulted in a handful of solid scoring chances. Halfway through the second half, the Tribe finally broke through with a long ball up the middle.
Cav goalkeeper Megan Boehm made a last-minute decision to charge the ball, but her clear attempt ricocheted off an onrushing Tribe attacker and bounced toward the goalmouth. Defender Ashley Meeker kept the ball out of the net, but Wycinsky corralled her clear attempt and blasted her seventh goal off Boehm's hand as the keeper scrambled to get back in position.
"My coaches have been telling me to play at least halfway between the endline and our last defender," Boehm said. "I'm not too comfortable doing that; I'm still learning a little bit. If I was out a little higher, I would have gotten there a little earlier and the whole mess wouldn't have happened. But I was late and they got the goal out of it. My bad."
Even after Boehm took herself out of the play, Meeker had a shot at saving the goal. The second-year back might have had time to settle the bouncing ball before clearing it, but she played it in the air.
"It nearly crossed the line but I got a foot on it," Meeker said. "I didn't clear it far enough and Missy got it. I had to clear it on one touch."
Almost immediately after Wycinsky put William & Mary in front, Cavalier coach April Heinrichs went to a three-front attack in search of the equalizer. Virginia had its chances, but Tribe senior keeper Michelle Horbaly and her defense withstood the Cavs' final push.
After watching William & Mary win the in-state rivalry for the second consecutive year, Heinrichs was not overly enthusiastic about her Cavaliers.
"I thought we played okay at times," Heinrichs said. "At times we made some critical mistakes."
But Heinrichs did have praise for Cav Brooke Stastny. The first-year defender spent the first half throwing up in her bedroom, an apparent victim of food poisoning. But Stastny arrived at halftime and gutted it out through the entire second half.
"The trainer called her and she said she wanted to come warm up and see how she felt," Heinrichs said. "I've got a lot of respect for Brooke throwing up in the first half and playing in the second half."
Perhaps this is not the best time to face the defending national champions, but the unbeaten No. 2 Florida Gators arrive in town Friday.
"We have to extract lessons immediately and apply them to the next day of practice or to the next game," Heinrichs said. "There's not a lot of time to do a lot of evaluation."
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