No. 11 Virginia hosted a top 10 opponent for the third time this season when No. 8 North Carolina came to Klӧckner Stadium. However, the Cavaliers (6-3-2, 1-1-1 ACC) were unable to beat the Tar Heels (7-2-0, 3-0-0 ACC) in the regular season matchup, losing 2-1.
Both teams created dangerous attacks from the start of what shaped up to be a physical and intense game.
“You’re going to get a good competitive game from UNC whenever you play them,” Virginia junior midfielder Montana Sutton said. “They’re definitely more athletic from what we saw the past couple of games.”
Sutton gave Virginia a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute when she buried a shot from 16 yards out. Sophomore forward Taylor Ziemer provided the assist on Sutton’s goal — her second of the season.
Later in the half, the Tar Heels scored two goals in a span of less than five minutes to claim the lead. Scoring the first goal for North Carolina was freshman forward Alessia Russo, whose shot went in off of a deflection. The goal was Russo’s third of the season.
Shortly after Russo got the Tar Heels on the scoreboard, North Carolina junior midfielder Dorian Bailey finished a shot from eight yards out to pick up her fifth goal of the season and what would prove to be the game-winning goal for the Tar Heels. Sophomore forward Bridgette Andrzejewski assisted both goals for North Carolina.
“I didn’t think we came out as hard as we needed to,” Virginia Coach Steve Swanson said. “We were turning over the ball too easily … It’s a little bit disappointing because you saw our potential, but against a team like that, you can’t do it for 45 minutes or whatever it was … I think if we had played a consistent 90 minutes, I would’ve liked our chances today.”
In the second half they were unable to put away any of their chances on possession.
“We’re going to take away some good things and also learn from some of our mistakes,” Sutton said. “We played a lot better in the second half going forward, and we just needed to be that way the whole game.”
Virginia now has a bit of time off, with its next game not until Sunday at Pittsburgh.
“We get a little time to rest and a little time to train, which I think both those things we need,” Swanson said. “I think that’ll be helpful for us — we’ve been going full-board, two games a week for the last four weeks or so, and they’ve been tough games … Hopefully we can get a chance to rest, but also, it gives us a chance to work on some things we need to work on, which I think will help us down the stretch.”
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