For her entire career at Virginia, the crossbar had been Kelly Hammond's worst enemy. Last night it became her newest friend.
Hammond's shot from just outside the box with 4:42 remaining bounced off the top iron, hit William & Mary goalkeeper Nikki Villott and rolled into the back of the net for the game-winning goal in No. 8 Virginia's 2-1 victory over William & Mary yesterday at Kløckner Stadium.
In addition to locking up the win for the Cavaliers, the goal silenced some demons for the sophomore midfielder, who has had a good deal of near-misses in her time at Virginia.
"Kelly's been a little snake-bitten since she's been here," Virginia coach Steve Swanson said. "She probably hit the crossbar and post about 12 times already in a year and two games. I bet she holds the career record for crossbars hit, already."
The Cavaliers (2-0) struggled offensively for most of the game against the Tribe (1-1). William & Mary buckled down on their side of the field and focused on protecting their own goal instead of attacking Virginia's.
"I didn't expect that from them," Swanson said. "They usually come out a lot more. They do have a young team, so maybe they thought it was the best way of getting a good result. It was just something different from what we're used to."
Virginia didn't have a shot on goal the entire first half and the Tribe's defensive strategy seemed to be doing the job. With three quarters of the game in the books the match remained scoreless.
"It was pretty frustrating because they were playing so many people in the back," Hammond said. "We were pressing them extremely hard and couldn't get a break with any of our shots."
The Cavaliers were finally able to break through the William & Mary defense with 21:20 left in the second half. Freshman forward Ariel Thompson got the ball across the line in heavy traffic in front of the goal after receiving a cross from sophomore forward Noelle Keselica. Senior forward Sarah Lane also was credited with an assist on the play.
"The ball bounced around a lot and I was able to get a foot on it," Thompson said. "I was just trying to push my way through and get the ball in there, somehow, someway."
However, the lead did not last for long.
The Tribe evened things up less than four minutes later when freshman forward Katie Hogwood broke away from the Virginia defense and easily chipped the ball over Virginia goalkeeper Anne Abernethy's head and into the goal.
"We let down a little bit when we scored," Swanson said. "I think at that point we thought, 'Oh, now we have it.' Our eyes were in the lights for just a second after the goal and that was enough for that kid to get behind us. She did a good job finishing."
Virginia managed to control possession of the ball for the remaining minutes of the game and kept heavy pressure on the William & Mary defense, culminating in Hammond's game winner as time was winding down.
Hammond led the team in shots last fall with 64, but only scored twice and didn't notch her first goal until the 11th game of the season. She finished with a team worst .031 shooting percentage.
Starting off this season in a much more successful fashion, Hammond can enjoy the irony of her game-winning score last night.
"If I was going to score, it had to be that way," Hammond said. "It had to be off the crossbar."
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