Women’s Soccer: UVA opens 2024 season with 2-0 win over Towson

The UVA women’s soccer team, picked sixth in the 17-team ACC in the 2024 preseason poll, opened the fall season with a 2-0 win over Towson on Thursday at Klöckner Stadium.

Virginia was in the “also receiving votes” category of the preseason national Top 25, not exactly familiar territory for a program that has won five ACC titles and had made the NCAA Tournament 29 straight times before not getting an invite to the tournament in 2023.

In the opener on Thursday, the Cavaliers broke through in the 34th minute following a turnover by Towson. A heavy touch attempting to get the ball out of the defensive third allowed Virginia to poke the ball away and transition into the attack. The ball got to the feet of Yuna McCormack approaching the penalty arc, and McCormack tapped the ball left to Laughlin Ryan, who chipped the shot in toward the back post for her first career college goal.

Virginia doubled the lead in the closing minutes of the game when Maggie Cagle was taken down in the box as she cut in from the left side. The referee awarded the penalty, and Cagle buried her chance from the spot for the 2-0 Cavalier lead.

“There were a lot of positives tonight,” UVA coach Steve Swanson said. “It’s good to start the season with a win, and to have Laughlin score the way she did brought some tears to the eyes of a lot of people on the bench. She’s had an amazing story, an amazing comeback, and it couldn’t happen to a better person and teammate than her.

More from Swanson:

“We moved the ball well at times and certainly got enough chances. Our quality wasn’t as good as it needed to be in the attacking end. We were a little impatient at times and we could have gotten some better shots. That’s a good team. Towson works hard, they were organized and that was a good win for us. We have to build on this and have a big game coming up again on Sunday, but there were a lot of positives.”

Up next

Virginia hosts Northwestern on Sunday. Kick is set for 1 p.m., and the first 100 fans to bring a canned food donation at the gate will receive a $5 concession voucher for use at the game.