As a steady, stinging rain fell from the sky yesterday afternoon at Klockner Stadium, the Virginia women's soccer team was able to quench their three-game victory drought with a 3-1 win over defending Ivy League champion Dartmouth.
The win was the team's first since a 7-0 thrashing of St. Joseph's in the season opener, and followed up a surprising 2-1 loss to West Virginia at home on Friday night.
After letting an early 1-0 lead slip away, the Cavaliers scored two late goals to grab the victory.
"I think it was disappointing because it was a mistake the we made," Virginia Coach Steve Swanson said, regarding Dartmouth's game-tying goal. "But I think there are times in games when you find out about your team. I was proud of the way the kids fought back and got another one, and I think we deserved to win today."
Following Friday's loss, the contest against Dartmouth was considered a must-win game, and the Cavaliers were focused on victory.
"We competed hard. We were trying to redeem ourselves from Friday night and get a win under our belts," said Kelly Worden, senior defender and team captain. "We could hear them in the locker room chanting and cheering, and we wanted to come out and take it to them right away."
And the Cavaliers did, with a barrage of shots on goal, including two against the crossbar early in the first half.
But the game stayed scoreless in the half until sophomore midfielder Gillian Hatch fed a pass to freshman forward Kristen Weiss, who beat the goalieto the ball and chipped it over her head into the net to put Virginia up 1-0.
"We had a lot of chances early on, and we just weren't putting them away, so that first goal was a pretty big goal -- just to get us relaxed and back into the scoring mode," Weiss said.
Dartmouth tied up the game just over 10 minutes into the second half, when senior forward Laura Ashley slipped through the defense and scored on a breakaway.
Virginia answered back 15 minutes later, when freshman midfielder Kelly Hammond won the ball and fed it to senior midfielder Meredith Rhodes. Rhodes then pounded a one-timer home from the top of the box, for what proved to be the game-winning goal.
The Cavaliers put the final nail in the coffin when junior forward Sarah Lane fed the ball to senior forward Darci Borski on a breakaway. Borski tapped the ball into the net for the third goal on the day for Virginia.
Despite the victory over Dartmouth, Swanson hopes the Cavaliers can improve their play.
"Our possession is not very good right now, and it's hard to get into a rhythm, so we need to look at that and see if maybe we need to simplify things for our team," Swanson said. "At this early stage we want to be tested. We're getting into situations where hopefully, down the road, it will help us"
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