Veronica Latsko (Venetia, Pa.) found the net with a second-half equalizer, but the Cavaliers couldn’t find the golden goal as No. 13 Virginia (7-3-3, 2-1-2 ACC) played Notre Dame (6-4-3, 2-2-1 ACC) to a 1-1 draw on Thursday night.
The Cavaliers tallied 21 shots for the match, including nine in extra time, but couldn’t find the second goal as Virginia played to a draw for the third time this season and second time in ACC play. Notre Dame tallied five shots, including a goal from Sandra Yu, in the first half, but would only take two more shots through the final 65 minutes.
“They’re a tough team to break down, but having said that when you have as many shots and opportunities as we did, we just didn’t test their keeper as much as we could,” said Virginia head coach Steve Swanson. “I thought we had some good chances, but at the end of the day we were unable to convert the opportunities off the penetration we had tonight. We fought hard and our effort was good. We controlled much of the game in the game in the second half and the overtimes, but they are a good team that fights, defends hard and are good on the counter. Give them credit, they fought very hard.”
The Cavaliers had the run of play for most of the first half, rattling off eight shots to five for the Irish, but it was the visiting team that found the net first as Notre Dame held the 1-0 lead at the break.
With the clock winding down in the half, Notre Dame got the ball with a turnover in the defensive third of the Cavaliers. Yu dribbled into the box, beating the Virginia defense and driving the ball in past the near post and over the hands of the Virginia keeper as she dove to her left. The goal in the 41st minute gave the Irish the one-goal lead at the half.
The Hoos tied things up in the 60th minute when Veronica Latsko scored her fourth goal of the season. Sophomore Courtney Petersen (Canton, Mich.) sent a cross in from the far side of the box to Latsko four yards out. Latsko’s shot glanced off the Notre Dame defender and in to the left of the keeper for the equalizer.
Virginia would get another solid chance in regulation when Petersen fired a shot in the 83rd minute that missed wide, but caught the foot of a sliding Latsko on the near side. The deflection by Latsko was also off the mark, however, bouncing over the end line just outside the near post.
Despite controlling play for most of the two overtime periods, in which in the Cavaliers tallied nine shots to only one from the Irish, the home team couldn’t find the golden goal as the squads drew for the first time in the relatively young series.
Virginia will return to action on Sunday, hosting Louisville in a 2 p.m. contest at Klöckner Stadium.
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