Brunner’s brace helps No. 4 Virginia down Loyola Maryland

The offense was on display for the Cavaliers on Sunday night as No. 4 Virginia (2-0-0) scored six goals – featuring a brace from Sarah Brunner and three assists from Lia Godfrey – on the way to a 6-0 victory over Loyola Maryland (0-2-0) at Klöckner Stadium.

In all, five different players scored for the Cavaliers on the night as Virginia posted its first shutout of the season.

The scoring started early with Sarah Brunner’s goal in the sixth minute. Lia Godfrey got the ball out wide on the right side and cut in toward the box on the end line to send a cross to Haley Hopkins inside the six. Hopkin’s header was deflected by the keeper, but a crashing Brunner collected it and put it in the net for the score.

Eight minutes later, the Cavaliers struck again with a strike from range by Alexa Spaanstra. Again Lia Godfrey started the play with a ball slipped through the defense ahead to Spaanstra in stride who struck from 23 yards out on the empty net as the keeper came out to challenge.

Virginia would strike to more times in the half with Rebecca Jarrett notching an unassisted goal in the 25th minute before freshmen connected in the 37th minute when Maggie Cagle played a ball ahead to Jill Flammia in the box who finished with a ball to the back post.

The Cavaliers added two more goals in the second half when Godfrey found Brunner for the brace in the 54th minute and capped the scoring with an Emma Dawson goal in the 73rd minute.

Postgame: Head coach Steve Swanson

“It was a different game for sure in that we had good quality around the attacking third. We scored some really good goals in a lot of different ways. We had good flank play, a good transition goal and we had some good build up. There are lots of things we improved on from the last game. We’ve gotten better each time we’ve played and that’s a good sign. We’re going to have to continue to do that. It’s still early, but there was progress made today from a process and result standpoint. It was good to see us finish goals and play the way we did tonight.”