The No. 5 Virginia women’s soccer team closed out the non-conference portion of its schedule at Klöckner Stadium on Sunday, playing VCU to a 0-0 draw.
It was the first draw for the Cavaliers (7-0-1) this season under the new rules in NCAA soccer eliminating overtime and the chance for a golden goal in the regular season.
The Cavaliers and Rams (2-1-5) battled for 90 minutes with Virginia outshooting VCU 24-to-7, though the home team only had six on frame to five for the Rams.
One of Virginia’s best chances came in the second half with a counter sparked by an clearance from Lia Godfrey. Godfrey sent the ball down the middle of the field to Haley Hopkins who flicked it on with a header to Alexa Spaanstra making a run down the left side. Spaanstra then sent the ball back through to Hopkins running with her down the middle of the field for a one-on-one chance as Hopkins got in behind the defender. The VCU keeper came off her line and made the save, sliding to block the shot and turning away the opportunity for Virginia.
“VCU played very hard and were really organized. I give them a lot of credit,” UVA coach Steve Swanson said. “We knew they would be a quality team and they were. I thought we did enough to get a result. It was a little bit unfortunate we didn’t have enough quality in the final third to put one in the back of the net. We have to be sharper in some different areas and there are things we can take away from this game. These things happen, but we’re obviously disappointed in the result.”
Virginia will jump into ACC play on Saturday when the Cavaliers travel to face No. 2 North Carolina in a 6 p.m. contest at Dorrance Field.
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Chris Graham
