Virginia coach Jess Wilk did not feel her team was adequately prepared for last Saturday's duel with the University of Maryland. She made sure the same thing did not happen against Radford University as Virginia notched a 2-0 victory Wednesday night.
"I was very pleased with the way we came out," Wilk said. "I thought we played up-tempo. I thought we were passing well, possessing the ball very well, and I was very pleased with the work rate."
Virginia moves to 7-5 overall and 5-1 against Commonwealth opponents.
The Cavaliers got on the board with 20:32 left in the first half. After intercepting an in-bounds pass in Radford territory, Katie Phillips passed a ball through two Highlander defenders. Mia Link ran onto the ball, collected it and drew the keeper off her line by dribbling parallel to the baseline. Once clear of the goalkeeper, Link had an open net and rocketed in her fourth goal of the season. It was also Phillips's fourth assist of the year.
The senior from Texas got a goal of her own just over 22 minutes into the first half. After a small scrum in front of the cage, Abby Taylor passed across the goalmouth to Phillips, who was standing on the far side of the goal. With the keeper out of position, Phillips had no problem firing in her team-leading 11th goal of the season. Taylor recorded her first assist on the year. After the game, Phillips was pleased with the team's continuing high-level of play.
"We came back today. We did get the win, and we had really good possession," Phillips said. "Everybody on the field was touching the ball and was building a lot of confidence. That makes me feel good going into Saturday ['s game with Penn]."
With the goal, Phillips moves into a tie for tenth all-time in career goals scored at Virginia. She has 35 goals and is tied with 1986 graduate Elaine Maddox.
Leading 2-0 at the half, Virginia could not extend the lead in the final 35 minutes, but held Radford off the board in large part due to goalkeeper Katherine Blair.
Nearly eight minutes into the second half, Radford earned a short corner. With a Highlander goal able to change the entire dynamic of the game, Blair made a tremendous save, deflecting a shot with her outstretched left hand while lying on the ground.
Blair's save helped ensure Virginia's fourth shutout of the season. The Cavaliers outshot Radford 14-2, with only one of the Highlanders shots going on net.
Wilk said she was proud of her team's defensive performance, particularly in the amount of short corners let up. Against the Terps, Virginia allowed 11 short corners. Four of those penalty corners led to goals en route to a 4-1 loss. The Cavaliers worked to allow fewer short corners in practice this week and it paid off against Radford. The Highlanders only mustered five short corners, and Virginia snuffed out each threat presented.
Next on tap for Virginia is the University of Pennsylvania. The 5-5 Quakers will travel to Charlottesville to take on the Cavaliers this Saturday.
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