The 2013 regular season was a demonstration in dominance for the Virginia women’s soccer team. The season opener against VCU saw them ranked seventh, but by their Sept. 12 ACC opener, the Cavaliers had shot up to second in the nation. A week later they were on top, and for good reason. The Cavaliers eventually notched 19 wins — a school record and perfect regular season.
The women picked up the ACC Tournament right where they finished the regular season. After allowing Maryland an early 1-0 lead in the quarterfinals, the Cavaliers responded in dramatic fashion and stormed to a 6-1 lead. They would then move on to the semis against Virginia Tech, the team they shutout to seal their 19th victory of the year.
By all logic, the game should have been another win for Virginia — not necessarily easy, but certainly expected. Instead, the Hokies upset the nation’s finest, handing the Cavaliers their first loss of the year and eliminating them from conference championship contention.
The men’s soccer team, on the other hand, endured a grueling regular season, facing ranked opponents more often than not. Every game was a battle in its own right, and seven of the team’s 19 regular season contests extended into overtime.
The ACC Tournament proved no different as the Cavaliers topped Wake Forest — then No. 9 — on a penalty kick in overtime, and used a late rally and penalty-kick shootout to best top-ranked Notre Dame.
The last piece of the puzzle was simple, though far from easy: beat Maryland. Beat Maryland and win the ACC Championship.
In their previous meeting, the Cavaliers and Terps walked away with a 3-3 draw. In the championship game, the teams were locked in a shutout until the 88th minute when the unthinkable happened. A shot from Maryland’s Patrick Mullins ricocheted off of Cavalier defender Kevin McBride and into the goal, sealing fate. After battling for an entire season, Virginia ceded the ACC title to Maryland on, of all things, an own goal.
It looks like there’s a theme here. The Virginia soccer program has been powerful for years, so it should not come as any surprise that either team was in legitimate contention for the conference title. Rather, what’s surprising is that each team made it so far and accomplished so much, only to fall at the most inopportune times and in the most unfortunate of ways.
What happened?
The short answer here is that “sports” happened. Soccer, like every other game that we fans rant and rave and agonize over, is unpredictable and sometimes weird things just happen. There’s no doubt that the men’s and women’s teams were left disappointed after being unceremoniously dispatched from their respective tournaments. Their next step, then, is obvious: move on.
The challenge of the Virginia soccer program is to do what certain other Virginia teams — teams who shall not be mentioned now because that is what they call “beating a dead horse” — cannot. The men’s and women’s soccer teams must channel their disappointing losses and come back fighting.
The good news is each team has that opportunity. In the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the women’s team has already shaken off the loss to Virginia Tech with a 5-0 win against St. Francis, and will face Georgetown Friday. After a first-round bye, the men will host their second-round match Sunday.
On a national stage, the Virginia teams can avenge their losses. They’ve demonstrated for years that the Cavalier soccer program is one defined by excellence, and this weekend they can prove that it is equally defined by resilience.
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