Women’s Soccer: Virginia to face SIU-Edwardsville in NCAA Tournament opening round

Virginia has earned a berth in the 2021 NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship, and the 12th-ranked Cavaliers will face SIU-Edwardsville in an opening-round match on April 28.

The winner of the match, to be contested at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C., advances to face BYU (11-3-1) in the second round at 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 1.

The entire tournament will be held at various sites in North Carolina with early round games on campus at Campbell, East Carolina and the University of North Carolina Wilmington, in addition to Bryan Park (Greensboro), J. Burt Gillette Athletic Complex (Wilson), Sportsplex (Matthews) and WakeMed Soccer Park. The tournament will conclude with the College Cup at Sahlen’s Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park.

The Cavaliers posted a 10-4-2 record throughout the fall and spring as teams played a split schedule. In the fall, Virginia only played games against other ACC teams and posted an 8-3-1 record on the way to a third-place finish in the ACC standings.

The Cavaliers advanced to the semifinals of the ACC Championships before falling to then No. 1 North Carolina.

Virginia posted wins over then No. 14 Pittsburgh and No. 13 Louisville and a pair of victories over Virginia Tech in a pair of matches that were designated as non-conference games.

In the spring, the Cavaliers posted wins over George Mason and VCU before facing a top-five West Virginia team in back-to-back weekends.

Sophomore forward Diana Ordoñez leads the Cavalier offense with 22 points as she has a team-leading nine goals and added four assists. Freshman Lia Godfrey was named the ACC Freshman of the Year and has 15 points with a team-leading seven assists and four goals this season.

Five Cavaliers earned All-ACC honors with junior forward Alexa Spaanstra was a first-team selection, while Godfrey, Ordoñez junior forward Rebecca Jarrett earned second-team honors. Freshman defender Samar Guidry was named an All-Freshman selection along with Godfrey.

The Cavaliers are making the program’s 27th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament and 33rd overall appearance. It is the second longest active streak of consecutive tournament appearances and second most overall appearances by a team.