The Cavaliers suffered the first setback of the season on Sunday (Sept. 11), as No. 3 Virginia (7-1-0) dropped a 3-2 decision at No. 20 Georgetown (6-1-0) in the final non-conference match of the season for UVA.
The Cavaliers will now return home and open Atlantic Coast Conference play on Friday (Sept. 16) when Virginia hosts No. 17 Virginia Tech at 7 p.m.
After jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first nine minutes of play, the Hoyas scored three unanswered goals, capitalizing on Virginia miscues down the stretch in the first half. It snapped a stretch of seven consecutive shutouts to open the season for the Cavaliers and a stretch of 976 consecutive minutes played without a goal allowed dating back to the 2015 season.
“It was a disappointing loss for sure, especially when you look at how we started,” said Virginia head coach Steve Swanson. “But, full credit to Georgetown for punishing our mistakes in the defensive half. We learned some valuable lessons today which hopefully serve us well in the future.
“I thought with the exception of the first 13 minutes or so, Georgetown was the better team in terms of what they wanted to do. I think the biggest challenge for our team moving forward is to see how we respond to this and see if we can improve in the areas we need to in order to compete, and win, consistently at this level.”
Veronica Latsko (Venetia, Pa.) got the first goal of the afternoon, finishing off a pair of touches from Tina Iordanou (Upper Brookville, N.Y.) and Betsy Brandon (Littleton, Colo.) in the seventh minute. Off a corner from Shaffer, Iordanou sent the ball in toward the back post where Brandon headed it toward goal. The ball kicked off the crossbar to Latsko who finished for the 1-0 lead.
Latsko played into the second goal two minutes later when she sent a ball in to Taylor Ziemer (Santa Rosa, Calif.) from 10 yards out on the near side of the box. Ziemer then knocked it in from four yards out for the 2-0 lead.
Georgetown answered in the 14th minute as the Hoyas’ Taylor Pak fired one from distance to cut the lead to 2-1 in favor of the Cavaliers. The shot opportunity came off a failed clearance by Virginia after turning away the initial attack.
The Hoyas tied things in the 26th minute following a turnover at midfield by the Cavaliers. Amanda Carolan took a ball slipped in behind the defense by Chloe Knott and won the one-on-one opportunity to even the game 2-2.
The third straight goal in response from the home team came in the 38th minute when the Cavaliers were called for a foul 25 yards out in the center of the field. Georgetown’s Rachel Corboz took the kick and fired it over the wall and the hands of a leaping Stearns to put the Hoyas up 3-2.
Virginia held an 8-to-6 lead in shots at the half, but the Hoyas held the advantage in the scoring column.
An opportunity to equalize came in the 53rd minute when Alexis Shaffer (Cary, N.C.) was taken down on the line of the penalty box, setting up a free kick eight yards in from the end line along the near side of the box. The Cavaliers would get two shots off, but both were blocked as the Hoyas turned the attack away and maintained the lead.
The Cavaliers sustained pressure on the Hoyas through the second half, taking seven shots to Georgetown’s two, but couldn’t get the breakthrough goal to tie the match.
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Chris Graham
