Virginia women’s soccer took on Florida State Thursday night, carrying a two-game winning streak into the game. Despite the momentum, the No. 23 Cavaliers (10-5-0, 3-5-0 ACC) had no answers for the No. 22 Seminoles (9-2-2, 4-2-1), falling 4-0 and conceding their most goals in a game this season.
In a night full of scoring, Florida State senior midfielder Taylor Huff kicked off the blowout in the 19th minute, placing a header into the back of the net off a corner from graduate defender Ran Iwai.
Virginia sophomore goalkeeper Victoria Safradin was not shaken by the goal, though, as she made a fantastic save just minutes later, leaping in front of a point-blank missile from Seminole freshman midfielder Ashlyn Puerta.
Moments later, in the 23rd minute, Safradin’s play proved to be a bit too energetic, as she chased a ball to the edge of the box and dove to keep it away from the feet of freshman forward Solai Washington. Safradin was whistled for a penalty as she sent Washington crashing to the ground.
Safradin nearly bounced back, reading Washington’s penalty kick to perfection as she dove to the correct side. But she was unable to get her gloves behind the ball, surrendering Virginia’s first penalty kick goal all season.
The Seminoles did not take their foot off the gas and continued to fire shots at the Virginia goal. They cashed in when sophomore forward Jordynn Dudley entered a dangerous ball into the box that bounced around until finding the foot of freshman forward Wrianna Hudson, who fired a shot into the back of the net, stretching the Florida State lead to 3-0 in the 34th minute.
Hudson should have had another goal just 30 seconds later when a save from Safradin off of a shot from freshman midfielder Taylor Suarez took a fortuitous bounce right to her. Luckily for Virginia, Hudson whiffed, and the Cavaliers were able to avoid further calamity in an already disastrous half.
Virginia limped into a much-needed halftime break, following a first period that saw them get outshot 12-1. The shot discrepancy encapsulated the Cavaliers' struggles on both ends of the ball, as the defense was unable to keep the ball out of their defending third, and the offense did a poor job of advancing the ball into the offensive third when the opportunity arose.
The Seminoles did not apply nearly as much pressure, but they played disciplined defense against the Cavaliers, who were able to get a few more close opportunities in the first half. Those chances, however, were blocked by the wall formed by the Florida State back line.
With the Cavaliers depleted of energy and morale, Florida State junior forward Giana Riley took graduate defender Moira Kelley one-on-one from just inside the box and bent a beautiful shot around both Kelley and Safradin to cap off a four-goal night for the Seminoles in the 76th minute. The score would hold for a 4-0 Florida State victory.
Both sides began the season in very different fashions but entered the match in nearly identical form. The Cavaliers, who began the year unranked, climbed to No. 2 in the nation before tumbling to the outskirts of the top 25 in recent weeks.
The Seminoles were the consensus No. 1 team to start the year, fresh off a national championship. However, like Virginia, they have been tripped up by recent ACC competition, sending them to No. 22 in the national poll.
With both teams sitting just outside of ACC tournament eligibility, this match was pivotal. Florida State’s victory puts it in striking distance to sneak into the conference tournament as the sixth and final seed, while Virginia has all but officially been eliminated from conference postseason play with the loss.
The Cavaliers have two games remaining on their schedule, both of which are imperative to win if they wish to preserve their NCAA Tournament seeding. Their next test will be back at home against Clemson Oct. 25. The match will kick off at 7 p.m. and will be streamed on ACCNX.
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