Senior forward Veronica Latsko (Venetia, Pa.) continued to come up big for the Cavaliers, scoring the game-winner for No. 12 Virginia (9-3-4, 4-1-3 ACC) on Thursday night in a 3-1 victory over Syracuse (7-7-2, 2-5-1 ACC).
It’s the third time Latsko has hit the game-winner for the Cavaliers in the last three Virginia victories. The Hoos are 3-0-2 in the last give matches with Latsko scoring at least one goal in four of the five contests.
Betsy Brandon (Littleton, Colo.) and Brianna Westrup (Corona del Mar, Calif.) also scored for the Cavaliers.
Virginia will return to action on Sunday, continuing ACC play on the road at Boston College in a 1 p.m. match.
“We saw some really good improvement in terms of getting into the attacking third, which resulted in some much better looks on goal,” said Virginia head coach Steve Swanson. “And tonight we converted those chances. It was a very good result on the road against an organized and disciplined team.”
Virginia scored first, finding the net in the 15th minute. Hana Kerner (Upper Saddle River, N.J.) raced down the far sideline with the ball, turning and sending the cross into the box. Brandon got the ball at the top of the box as it glanced off a Syracuse defender and delivered a strike up and to the left of the diving keeper to give the Cavaliers the 1-0 lead.
Syracuse evened things up on the 27th minute on the counter. Following a takeaway in the midfield, the Orange’s Sydney Bracket dribbled down the near side of the box and sent a cross in to Georgia Allen in a one-on-one situation with the Virginia keeper. Allen’s header went down to the right of the keeper to make it a 1-1 score.
At the half, the Hoos held a 4-to-1 advantage in shots, but the Orange converted on that one shot attempt for the tie. Every in the first half was on goal as the Syracuse keeper posted three saves on the four Cavalier shots.
Virginia moved back in front in the 60th minute off a header from Latsko. The Cavaliers brought the ball down the middle of the field before playing it out wide to Taryn Torres (Frisco, Texas). Torres dribbled down toward the end line and sent the cross in to Latsko who flicked it in past the far post for the 2-1 lead.
The Cavaliers got an insurance goal in the 78th minute when Westrup converted a penalty kick to take the lead out to 3-1. Following a foul, the Cavaliers set up for a free kick. Westrup went up for a header on the service, and was undercut by Syracuse’s Brackett for the foul and the yellow card to set up the penalty kick.
The Westrup penalty kick provided the final margin of victory as the Cavaliers picked up the two-goal win.
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