[caption id="attachment_36152" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Senior forward Meghan Lencyzk made seven goals during her first five games but has only one assist for the last three.
The No. 5 Virginia women's soccer team lost its first match of the season Sunday, falling 1-0 to West Virginia on an 83rd-minute goal. Keeping with the theme of the season, the Cavaliers (6-1-1) started slowly and were held scoreless during the first half.
The No. 6 Virginia women's soccer team heads to Morgantown, W.Va., Sunday to seek its first undefeated non-conference record since 2004. With the squad's opening ACC match against Virginia Tech coming up next Thursday, the Cavaliers view their matchup against West Virginia as an important final step before they begin the grind of conference play. "We're trying to take West Virginia as a win then go into ACCs undefeated and just confident," senior midfielder Sinead Farrelly said. The Mountaineers, though, are coming off some strong results, even if they are currently unranked in the polls.
[caption id="attachment_35636" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Sophomore forward Caroline Miller scored against Texas and Boston University this weekend, helping the Cavaliers win against both teams with a combined score of 7-0.
[caption id="attachment_35546" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="Junior goalkeeper Chantel Jones has given up only one goal this season, boasting a 0.17 goals against average.
If you blinked, you might have missed it. Seemingly in a flash, the Virginia women's soccer team dominated Richmond last Friday, scoring three goals in 15 minutes to start the first half, then going on to notch two goals in five minutes to begin the second on the way to an 8-0 victory. "That certainly wasn't what we were expecting - we've played them in the spring, and they've been awfully good," Virginia coach Steve Swanson said.
[caption id="attachment_35178" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Senior midfielder Sinead Farrelly was a second-team All-American last season after leading the Cavaliers with eight goals.
The Virginia women's soccer team had a mixed bag of results this weekend, as the Cavaliers tied No. 11 Penn State 1-1 and defeated Connecticut 1-0 in double overtime. During the Cavaliers' first game of the weekend, the Nittany Lions took a one-goal lead at the beginning of the second half, but the Cavaliers rallied back after junior forward Lauren Alwine's goal in the 87th minute to force overtime.
2009. The round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament. The Cavaliers are down 2-0 at halftime against Penn State.
If the first games are any indication, it's going to be a banner year for the Virginia women's soccer team.
The Virginia women's soccer team ended its season Saturday with 0-3 loss to No. 3 UCLA in the Round of 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
No. 30 Virginia fell in the first game of the ACC Championships on Wednesday to No. 7 Boston College, as the Cavaliers lost 3-2 on penalty kicks after two overtime periods.
[caption id="attachment_31615" align="alignleft" width="268" caption="Junior midfielder Sinead Farrelly was named ACC Player of the Week after scoring two game-winning goals last weekend.
[caption id="attachment_31510" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Sophomore forward Lauren Alwine scored the second goal against Miami.
Virginia completed its North Carolina road trip this weekend, topping Duke 1-0 in a Saturday match at Durham and drawing Wake Forest 0-0 in a Sunday match at Winston-Salem. The win against Duke allowed the Cavaliers to break their bad luck on the road; it was Virginia's first win of the season away from home. "There were some bits and pieces in the second half that we can learn from, but the biggest thing for us tonight was to come down here and get three points and that's what we did," said coach Steve Swanson according to a University press release, referring to the ACC's standings point system in which a win is worth three points and a tie is worth one.
Facing Duke on the road last night, Virginia ended a four-game losing streak with a 1-0 victory against the Blue Devils.
North Carolina is the Brazil of women's soccer. The team has won 19 national championships in the past 27 years and is the only team in the ACC to have earned a national title. The Cavaliers, reeling from a series of disappointing games, will face the Tar Heels this weekend in what has become a conference grudge match between the two schools.
It is not easy for the Virginia women's soccer team to maintain a positive attitude when the season is not going as well as it had hoped. The Cavaliers (6-4-3, 1-3-1 ACC) have experienced a frustrating start to ACC conference play this season, including two overtime matches against conference rivals No.
Basic Information: Year: Junior Sport: Soccer Position: Midfielder Stats: Named to pre-season Herman Trophy watch list in 2009.
