The No. 3 seed Virginia women’s soccer team resumes NCAA postseason play Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. with a second-round matchup against Xavier at Jeffrey Field in State College, Penn.
A win would punch the 11th-ranked Cavaliers’ ticket to a Sweet-16 matchup on Sunday at 5 p.m., when they would face the winner between No. 2 seed and host Penn State (Big Ten Tournament champs) and No. 7 seed West Virginia (Big 12 Tournament champs). The Nittany Lions (14-4-3) and Mountaineers (11-4-7) will square off in the second game at Jeffrey Field on Friday at 4:30.
Virginia is looking to advance to the round of 16 for the 17th time in its last 18 appearances. Head coach Steve Swanson is 45-18-7 all-time in NCAA Tournament contests with the Wahoos, outscoring opponents 168-65 along the way.
The Cavaliers (14-3-3) knocked off Fairleigh Dickinson in shutout fashion over the weekend, 4-0, while the Musketeers (15-3-5) defeated No. 6 seed Tennessee, 4-1, on the road in double overtime, marking one of six upsets across the 64-team bracket in the opening round. Friday’s contest, which will be broadcast on ESPN+, will be the first career meeting between Virginia and Xavier.
UCLA (18-2-0) is the top seed in Virginia’s region and will face Central Florida (10-2-5) on Friday, while No. 4 seed Northwestern (15-4-2) goes up against Vanderbilt (12-4-4) in Los Angeles. The Golden Knights upset 8th-seeded NC State in penalty kicks, 4-2, while the Commodores upended No. 5 Clemson, 1-0, in the first round. Whichever team emerges out of those four in L.A. will battle the winner out of State College next weekend, with a trip to the College Cup in Cary, N.C. (Dec. 2-5) on the line.
A trip to the quarterfinals next week, should the Wahoos advance, would be the ninth in program history and eighth under Swanson (2001, ‘05, ‘11, ‘13, ‘14, ‘15 and ‘20-21).
The Cavaliers, who are 6-2-2 across their last 10 matches, got past FDU behind solid play from senior goalkeeper Cayla White, who registered nine solo shutouts out of the team’s 13 on the season, good for sixth among Division-I schools. White registered 46 saves (.793) on the year, as UVA has allowed just 12 goals on 116 shots all season.
“There are things we can take away from this game,” Swanson said after defeating the Knights Saturday. “We did some good things, but we’ve got to be more consistent in how we manage games like this. We won, which is good, but when you win and you can learn some things and apply those to the next game, that’s a good thing, too.”
Third-year midfielder Lia Godfrey, who played hero with game-winning goals in the Cavaliers’ road upsets of top-5 conference foes North Carolina and Duke in the regular season, was a first-team All-ACC selection for a second-consecutive year.
She’s joined in the starting XI by senior forward Haley Hopkins, who posted a team-high 28 points (12 goals, 4 assists) en route to All-ACC second-team honors. Hopkins put the Hoos on the board early against Fairleigh Dickinson in the opening round.
Forward Alexa Spaanstra’s 34 career assists are tied for third in the country. She was a third-team All-ACC performer, marking the fifth-straight year she received all-conference honors. Spaanstra, who scored to give UVA a 2-0 lead in the 60th minute against FDU, has scored 8 times on the season, including back-to-back game-winners against NC State and Miami, while dishing out 5 assists.
The Cavaliers’ other starting forward, freshman Maggie Cagle, leads the Hoos with 10 assists, including 6 on game-winning tallies, while sending home clinching goals herself twice in 2022 (Oregon State, Wake Forest). It was Cagle who found Hopkins for the go-ahead score in the 7th minute against Fairleigh Dickinson.
Xavier scored three times in the extra sessions against the 22nd-ranked Volunteers last week, with sophomore forward Chloe Netzel putting the Musketeers ahead to stay in the 94th minute. Graduate midfielder Molly McLaughlin (the team’s leading scorer with 7 goals) and junior forward Sonia Vargas tacked on two more before time expired to solidify the upset.
“These bigtime games come down to bigtime moments and bigtime players,” said Xavier coach Nate Lie after the win, “and I think fortunately, we found those moments, we have those players.”
Friday’s matchup with the Cavaliers will be just the second appearance in the second round in program history, after defeating Virginia Tech in the opening round in 2019. The Musketeers lost to Georgetown, 1-0, in the Big East Championship on Nov. 6.
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