The No. 6 UVA women’s soccer team (12-2-0, 5-2-0 ACC) kicked off an ACC homestand on Sunday afternoon, racing past Pittsburgh (4-9-1, 0-7-0 ACC) with a 7-0 victory at Klöckner Stadium.
Six different players scored for the Cavaliers in the win, including a two-goal performance from junior Meghan McCool (Glenside, Pa.). Also scoring for Virginia were Betsy Brandon (Littleton, Colo.), Rebecca Jarrett (Washington Township, N.J.), Alexa Spaanstra (Brighton, Mich.), Ashlynn Serepca (Cornelius, N.C.) and Anna Sumpter (Charlottesville, Va.). The goals for Serepca and Sumpter were their first collegiate goals.
Laurel Ivory (Surfside, Fla.) improved to 11-2-0 in goal as the Cavaliers played all three keepers in the combined shutout. It was the seventh shutout of the season for Virginia.
“We’ve been progressively getting better and I thought last week on our road trip we played some of our most consistent soccer,” said Virginia head coach Steve Swanson. “It was nice to get a little rest and work on some things through the week. I challenged our team to see if we could keep a consistently high standard in these games. We had a good start and kept the momentum throughout. It was good to score some goals and play at home, for sure.”
Virginia got the scoring started in the ninth minute when McCool took the cross in the box from Brianna Westrup (Corona del Mar, Calif.) and scored from just outside the six yard box. Westrup, who had brought the ball down the far right side of the field, sent in the cross from 20 yards out to McCool for the score.
Two minutes later, Brandon drilled a penalty kick following a foul in the box that resulted in a yellow card on the Panthers’ Dixon Veltri, extending the Virginia lead to 2-0.
McCool struck for a second time in the 13th minute. Courtney Petersen (Canton, Mich.) brought the ball down the left side of the field, dribbling into the box before driving a cross in toward goal. McCool, making an aggressive run through the box, connected with the cross two yards out and drove it up past the keeper for the 3-0 lead.
The lead grew to 4-0 in the 38th minute when Serepca hit her first collegiate goal. A corner kick for the Cavaliers set up the scoring play with Lizzy Sieracki (Acworth, Ga.) taking a shot off the corner kick from Taryn Torres (Frisco, Texas). Sieracki’s header hit the near post and caromed into the center of the box where Serepca took the one-touch shot from four yards out for the score.
Virginia held a 16-to-0 edge in shots at the half.
A pair of freshmen connected in the 70th minute, extending the lead to 5-0 in favor of the Cavaliers when Serepca played a through ball ahead to Spaanstra on a run. The pass, which split two defenders, found Spaanstra in stride in the box for her strike from 12 yards out.
Jarrett added the sixth goal of the day in the 75th minute, receiving the ball from Serepca 22 yards out. She held off her defender with her back to the goal, turned and then knifed through the defense to the center of the box, taking her shot just outside the six-yard box.
Sumpter notched the first goal of her career in the 78th minute off a cross from Alissa Gorzak (Naperville, Ill.). Gorzak played the ball down the left side of the field and turned into the box, dribbling past her defender. She then sent a cross into Sumpter making a run down the middle of the box for the shot. The score put UVA on top of the Panthers 7-0.
The Cavaliers finished the match with a 22-to-1 edge in shots over the Panthers. Virginia will return to action on Thursday (Oct. 18), hosting Syracuse at 7 p.m.
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