Women’s soccer: No. 2 UVA plays No. 3 Florida State to 1-1 draw

After 100 minutes of play and two lightning delays, weather forced officials to call the match on Sunday resulting in a 1-1 draw as No. 2 UVA (8-2-1, 1-1-1 ACC) faced No. 3 Florida State (8-1-1, 2-0-1 ACC) in a contest that lived up to the recent history of the rivalry.

Junior forward Veronica Latsko (Venetia, Pa.) scored the early goal for the Cavaliers before Florida State would find the equalizer off a turnover in the 68th minute of play.

With one lightning delay already in the books, the match went into overtime and was in the final minute of the first overtime period when it entered its second lightning delay. That delay lasted nearly 90 minutes before the match was finally called as a draw.

It’s the sixth time in the last 13 contests that the match between the Cavaliers and Seminoles has gone into overtime. Virginia notched 12 shots to the Seminoles’ 14, while Morgan Stearns (San Antonio, Texas) posted six saves for the Cavaliers and FSU keeper Cassie Miller recorded three saves.

The Cavaliers took the lead early on the Seminoles when Hana Kerner (Upper Saddle River, N.J.) found Latsko eight yards out in the box. Latsko lined up the shot and buried it in the net to give Virginia the 1-0 lead that held to the break.

The squads endured an extensive lightning delay during the half that kept the teams off the field for almost 45 minutes before the second half would begin.

The second half opened with both teams coming up with defensive stops, but the Seminoles found the equalizing goal in the 68th minute. Following a turnover, Florida State’s Kristen McFarland fired one in from six yards out to tie the match at 1-1.

Following the equalizing goal, the Cavalier offense stepped up the pressure, firing four shots off over the next 10 minutes – two blocked by the FSU defense and two wide of the goal. Florida State would get one more shot in the half that was saved by Stearns in the 86th minute and helped send the match into overtime.

The defense came up big for both teams in the overtime period with FSU’s Miller making the save on the only shot from the Cavaliers, while Stearns notched a save in the 98th minute of play on the final of two shots from the Seminoles before the lightning delay.

Virginia will return to action on Sunday (Oct. 2), hosting North Carolina at 1 p.m. in a match televised by ESPNU.