Junior midfielder Morgan Brian’s (St. Simons Island, Ga.) golden goal in the 101st minute lifted the top-ranked Virginia women’s soccer team to a 3-2 double-overtime victory over No. 5 Notre Dame in front of a school-record 2,838 fans at Klöckner Stadium Thursday night.
The Cavaliers (13-0, 7-0) remain the nation’s only unbeaten and untied team, while the Fighting Irish fall to 9-3-1 overall and 5-2-1 in their inaugural ACC season.
Senior forward Gloria Douglas (Fayetteville, N.C.) also scored for the Cavaliers and junior midfielder Danielle Colaprico (Freehold, N.J.) added a pair of assists.
“It was a great college soccer game tonight,” said head coach Steve Swanson. “When you have two great teams, there are going to be ebbs and flows. That was the case tonight. I thought this was our most consistent effort of the season. We did a lot of good things against a really talented opponent. Give Notre Dame a lot of credit. To come back twice from down a goal in this environment shows the type of team they have.”
The Cavaliers took the early lead, striking in the fourth minute of play. A cross from Colaprico towards the far post was headed in by Douglas for her second goal of the season. The Irish drew even in the 25th minute as Elizabeth Tucker knocked in a rebound of a Morgan Andrews header that went off the post. The game remained tied at 1-1 at intermission.
Virginia retook the lead in the 50th minute on an own goal by Notre Dame. Senior defender Molly Menchel (Alexandria, Va.) sent a cross into the box that Brian went for, but it deflected off Irish defender Rebecca Twining and into the net. Notre Dame would rally to tie the game again in the 73rd minute on Tucker’s second goal of the night, third of the season. Taylor Schneider sent a ball into the box that deflected off Tucker making a run and into the net.
After the teams played a scoreless first overtime, Virginia struck early in the second overtime for the game-winner. After a Colaprico shot was deflected out for a corner kick, she took the corner and sent a well-placed ball towards the top of the six-yard box. Brian took the service and headed a shot that crossed the line before a Notre Dame defender was able to save it.
“When I watched the play, my focus went right to the A.R. (assistant referee), and he immediately put his flag up that it was in,” said Swanson. “That’s his job and he had the best angle. It wasn’t like he was uncertain. I know its tough to lose a game like that, but it was good to see our team push in the overtime and get a goal off a set piece.”
Overall, Virginia outshot Notre Dame 21-13 and had an 8-3 corner kick advantage. First-year Morgan Stearns (San Antonio, Texas) made six saves for the Cavaliers, while Kaela Little made nine at the other end for the Irish.
Despite the rain, a women’s soccer record crowd of 2,838 came to Klöckner Stadium, breaking the previous record of 2,540 set against Maryland 11 days earlier. The last three Cavalier home games have produced three of the 10 largest crowds in program history, including the top two.
Virginia will begin a three-game road trip on Sunday at it visit No. 11 Wake Forest. Game time in Winston-Salem is 1 p.m. The Cavaliers return home on Oct. 24 when they host Miami.
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Chris Graham
