In a rainy Sunday afternoon matchup, the unbeaten Cavaliers (12-0-3, 4-0-3 ACC) celebrated Senior Day with a win over the Fighting Irish. Virginia cruised past Notre Dame (9-5-1, 3-3-1 ACC) 3-0 with goals by senior forward Meghan McCool, freshman forward Diana Ordonez and sophomore forward Rebecca Jarrett.
While the Cavaliers have managed to maintain strong possession throughout the season, the Fighting Irish were able to add pressure on the Virginia defense early in the match. Both teams traded possession as the Cavaliers allowed several turnovers and couldn’t hold onto the ball long enough to create scoring opportunities in the final third.
It was a slow start for the Virginia attack, but McCool shifted the momentum with a goal in the 39th minute. It was a senior effort as senior defender Courtney Petersen served the assist. Petersen blew by the standstill Notre Dame defense to create the opportunity, driving down the left side and finding McCool in the box. McCool fully extended to slide the ball between the legs of senior goalkeeper Brooke Littman. It was McCool’s 10th goal on the season, a career-high for the senior forward.
“I think it’s always good to connect with [Courtney], who’s a fellow senior,” McCool said. “We’ve played together for a while. It was a pretty nice play, and she came out of nowhere and played a great ball in so it was exciting for sure.”
There weren’t many opportunities to score through the first 45, and Virginia edged Notre Dame just 4-1 in shots. McCool’s goal forced Notre Dame to come out of the break firing on all cylinders, looking to control the tempo and generate more chances on the attack.
Notre Dame is a second-half team, outscoring opponents 19-4 in second period play prior to facing Virginia. However, the Fighting Irish couldn’t fend off the aggressive Virginia attack as they conceded a pair of goals and were unable to generate any offensive momentum.
“I thought the first 10 minutes of the second half was the difference in the game really,” Coach Steve Swanson said. “We won a lot of balls, [added] pressure and capitalized on another goal, and I think that was the difference in the game for us. [It was a] good response from our team coming out of haltime.”
In the 54th minute, Ordonez added a second goal for Virginia. Junior midfielder Taryn Torres forced the turnover and passed the ball to Ordonez. The freshman was well defended as she entered the box and slid the ball to sophomore midfielder Alexa Spaanstra. Spaanstra chipped a cross to the left of the post to an open McCool, who headed it back to Ordonez in the box. Ordonez finished with a high strike into the top left corner. It was Ordonez’ 13th goal on the season and Spaanstra’s eighth assist.
Littman prevented further damage in the 65th minute with a diving save after Jarrett and McCool applied pressure in the box. McCool attempted a dangerous shot, but the keeper fully extended to block the attempt.
Jarrett extended the lead to 3-0 in the 69th minute in a solo effort as she broke past a pair of defenders to offer a shot at Littman. Littman knocked the first attempt away, but the ball deflected right back to Jarrett, who was unchallenged this time as she buried the ball into the back of the net.
Swanson was pleased with his team’s performance as they returned home to Klockner Stadium. As Virginia has seen this season, road games can prove challenging, and the team has conceded two of its three ties in away matches.
“You really have to take care of your home advantage,” Swanson said. “We put ourselves in a good position in the last three games on the road going 2-0-1, and I think … if we can continue to do well here at home, that should help us coming into the end of the season and potentially postseason.”
Virginia continues ACC play at Klockner Stadium Thursday at 7 p.m. against No. 14 Louisville.
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