The third-ranked UVA women’s soccer team was victorious in its first-ever trip to Louisville, downing the Cardinals 2-1 Sunday at Lynn Stadium. The Cavaliers rallied from down an early goal to improve to 14-1 (6-1 ACC), while the Cardinals (6-7-2) fall to 2-3-2 in their inaugural ACC season.
Junior Makenzy Doniak (Chino Hills, Calif.) and sophomore Tina Iordanou (Upper Brookville, N.Y.) each scored for the Cavaliers, while sophomore Morgan Reuther assisted on both goals.
“This was a tough trip and any ACC win is a good win,” said head coach Steve Swanson. “I thought our team played well today in a lot of facets. Louisville was compact and organized as they worked to defend us. Even going down a goal, we stuck to the plan and scored a couple of nice goals. In the second half, the red card changed the game for both teams. It forced them to drop back even more and since we were up, we able to just possess the ball for most of the second half.”
Virginia controlled the early part of the match before the Cardinals took the lead in the 19th minute with a goal against the run of play. Alison Price curled a shot from the top of the 18 inside the far upper corner to score on Louisville’s first shot of the game.
The Cavaliers drew even five minutes later as Reuther delivered a cross to Doniak, who collected the ball and fired a shot off the inside of the far post and in for her team-leading 10th goal of the year. Virginia took the lead in the 43rd minute as Reuther’s shot from the top of the box off a corner kick was saved, but the ball fell right to Iordanou, who tapped in her first goal as a Cavalier. With the goal, Iordanou became the 14th different Cavalier to score a goal this season.
The Cavaliers played 11-on-10 beginning early in the second half after Rachel Avant picked up her second yellow card in the 50th minute for the Cardinals. However, Virginia couldn’t take advantage of the extra player as the second half went scoreless with Virginia closing out the 2-1 victory.
Overall, Virginia outshot Louisville 13-6 and had a 7-1 corner kick advantage. Sophomore Morgan Stearns (San Antonio, Texas) made one save in goal for Virginia, while Paige Brown made three saves at the other end for the Cardinals.
Virginia will continue its three-game road trip Thursday with a visit to Duke. Game time in Durham is 7 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on ESPN3.
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Chris Graham
