The Virginia women's soccer team closed out a bittersweet 2001 season with a 3-2 loss at Santa Clara in the fourth round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday.
The Cavaliers finished the season with a record of 17-4-2, which gives them the second-highest win total for the women's team in school history. They also finish ranked second in the ACC conference behind North Carolina.
Leading up to the NCAA tournament, Virginia won nine of its last 11 matches, and that confidence carried them right into the national tournament.
The Cavaliers eventually reached the Elite Eight by beating Liberty, William & Mary, and Cincinnati by an 11-1 total margin before running up against the Broncos.
Virginia struggled early against Santa Clara. The Broncos scored the first two goals and outshot the Cavaliers 11-0 in the first half. In the 53rd minute, Santa Clara scored again on its 13th shot of the game to go up 3-0, and the Cavaliers had yet to get a shot off.
Just under 60 minutes into the match, senior midfielder Lori Lindsey passed the ball to freshman midfielder Jess Trainor, who went on to score the Cavaliers' first goal and swing the momentum to Virginia.
Within a minute, Lindsey scored the second goal off a shot from 40 yards out, bringing the score to 3-2.
"I thought we showed a lot of character to come back," Virginia coach Steve Swanson said. "We dug ourselves a pretty big hole, but we darn near dug ourselves out of it which is amazing against as strong an opponent as Santa Clara."
"It was our own fault, we had chances," freshman forward Lindsay Gusick said. "But when you get down that much its hard to come back against a team that good."
Virginia's defense tightened up after Trainor's goal as well, only allowing Santa Clara three shots in the second half.
The loss marked the end of the Cavaliers careers of Laura Gaworecki, defenders Tammy Westinghouse, Ashley Meeker, Megan Leo, and marked the end of an era with Lindsey's departure.
Lindsey, who joined former North Carolina standout Mia Hamm as one of only two players to earn ACC player of the year twice in her collegiate career, finished her four years at Virginia with a total of 33 goals. She is sixth in team history with 76 points.
"She's left her mark on the program," Swanson said. "The best thing we can do is take this and move forward. The challenge of the team in the future is to do it without Lori and rest of the seniors."
Gaworecki finished out her career at Virginia with her best season ever. She contributed four goals and four assists to the Cavaliers' season totals.
Still, Virginia does not have to fret about the future thanks to strong play from their younger members as well.
Gusick had a hat trick in the Cavaliers' 3-0 victory over Liberty in the first round of the tournament. She scored 14 goals this season and was the second-highest scorer in the ACC. She finished up the season with 37 points total, which placed her fourth in the conference for points scored.
Both Gusick and Lindsey were recently named to the NSCAA All Mid-Atlantic first team.
"I think there were a lot of positive steps that we took this year," Swanson said. "Our vision is to make this program the best in the country"
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