Women’s Soccer: #1 UVA defeats #5 Florida State in OT

For the second time this season the Cavaliers got a golden goal to beat the Seminoles as Rebecca Jarrett (Washington Township, N.J.) scored in the 97th minute to push No. 1 UVA (16-0-3) to a 2-1 victory over No. 5 Florida State (15-5-0) on Friday in the semifinals of the ACC Championships.

The win over the second-seeded Seminoles puts the third-seeded Cavaliers in the ACC Championship final at WakeMed Soccer Park at noon on Sunday. Virginia will face either top-seeded North Carolina or fifth-seeded NC State in a match broadcast on ESPNU.

With three minutes remaining in overtime, Phoebe McClernon (West Chester, Pa.) played a long ball ahead down the touch line to Alexa Spaanstra (Brighton, Mich.) who was streaking down the line in a footrace with a defender. Spaanstra beat her defender and was able to cut into the box to fire a shot. The attempt was deflected by the Florida State keeper and fell to the feet of Jarrett who took her chance and beat the keeper to give Virginia the victory.

It was Jarrett’s fifth goal of the season, while Spaanstra notched assists on both Cavalier goals to push her season total to 12 assists. Zoe Morse (East Lansing, Mich.) provided the initial goal for the Cavaliers with a header in the 67th minute.

“We are really proud of our team,” said Virginia head coach Steve Swanson. “It was a very tough game and you have to credit Florida State for that. They put us under hard pressure throughout the game, but we found a way to get a couple of goals today. We did enough on the defensive side to limit them. It was a good team win and we’re going to need that kind of effort again on Sunday.”

The first half was a defensive battle with the Seminoles holding a 2-to-1 edge in shots, though the Cavaliers had the only shot on goal. The lone strike on frame came in the eighth minute following a turnover when Meghan McCool got a one-on-one chance, but the deflected shot was cleared by Florida State.

Virginia struck in the 67th minute with the header from Morse. The third straight corner for the Cavaliers came from the left side of the field with Alexa Spaanstra (Brighton, Mich.) lifting the ball to the senior defender inside the six at the back post. Morse leaped and headed it in for the 1-0 lead.

Florida State equalized in the 82nd minute, converting off a corner of their own. Deyna Castellanos served the ball into the box where Jaelin Howell headed it toward goal. Kristen McFarland then bodied the ball in to tie the match at 1-1.

The Seminoles got one last chance with seconds left on the clock as an indirect free kick was awarded following a play where Morse went down just outside the box with the ball tangled up between her legs. Florida State tapped the ball over to Castellanos who fired a shot high to close regulation.

Jarrett came through in the overtime period, taking her only shot of the match in the 97th minute off the deflection of the Spaanstra shot.