The third-ranked UVA women’s soccer team remained unbeaten on the season with a 4-0 victory over Richmond Friday night in front of 2,436 fans at Klöckner Stadium. The Cavaliers improved to 2-0 on the year with the win, while the Spiders fell to 1-2.
Junior forward Brittany Ratcliffe (Williamstown, N.J.) scored twice to lead the Cavaliers, who recorded their second shutout of the season. Sophomores Alexis Shaffer (Cary, N.C.) and Meghan Cox (Springfield, Va.) also scored for Virginia, while senior Danielle Colaprico had two assists.
“I thought our performance was better tonight,” said head coach Steve Swanson. “I thought Richmond played well. They were organized and hustled and made it tough for us to break them down. We are still a work in progress. We did a better job of creating chances tonight, but we need to do better in terms of finishing them. Our objective is to continue to improve with each game.”
The Cavaliers took the lead in the 20th minute of play as a clearance of a corner kick came to Shaffer at the top of the box. She collected the ball and fired it into the side of the net for her second goal of the season. Virginia added a second goal off a corner kick with just nine seconds remaining before halftime. Colaprico’s corner was headed in by Cox, as the transfer from James Madison notched the first goal of her Cavalier career.
Ratcliffe doubled the Cavalier advantage in the second half with a pair of goals in a span two minutes. In the 64th minute, a give-and-go passing sequence in the box by Colaprico and Morgan Brian (St. Simons Island, Ga.) set up Ratcliffe to tap home her first goal of the season. In the 66th minute, Makenzy Doniak’s (Chino Hills, Calif.) blast was saved, but the rebound fell right to Ratcliffe, who finished the chance to complete her third career multi-goal game.
Overall, Virginia outshot Richmond 27-4 and had a 12-3 corner kick edge. Sophomores Morgan Stearns (San Antonio, Texas) and Jessie Ferrari (Fairfax, Va.) had two and one saves, respectively, in goal for Virginia. Spider keeper Emily Kelly made nine saves at the other end.
The Cavaliers’ will conclude their three-game homestand on Sunday as they host Villanova. Game time Klöckner Stadium is 2 p.m.
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Chris Graham
