The Cavaliers closed out an ACC road trip with a win on Sunday (Oct. 7) as the No. 8 UVA women’s soccer team (11-2-0, 4-2-0 ACC) raced to a 3-0 victory over Notre Dame (6-8-0, 2-4-0 ACC) at Alumni Stadium.
Montana Sutton (Bedminster, N.J.) turned in a career day in the victory as the senior was involved in all three goals scored. Sutton tallied a career-high two assists, while adding a goal of her own on the way to the victory. Sydney Zandi (West Chester, Pa.) scored the opening goal in the 18th minute, while Alexa Spaanstra (Brighton, Mich.) capped the scoring with a goal in the 65th minute and added an assist in the match.
Laurel Ivory (Surfside, Fla.) improved to 10-2-0 on the season with her fifth solo shutout of the year.
It closed out a stretch that saw the Cavaliers play 6-of-7 matches on the road, including 5-of-6 in ACC play. Virginia will now close out the regular season with four straight home matches, beginning with Pittsburgh on Sunday, Oct. 14 at 2 p.m.
“We have a lot of respect for Notre Dame and knew it would take a strong performance against them to win the game, especially on the road,” said Virginia head coach Steve Swanson. “Our team played consistently on both sides of the ball, which factored in the result. But, we also did well on our set plays, both attacking and defending, which proved very important in the result.”
Virginia got on the board in the 18th minute when Zandi connected off a set piece following a foul just outside the top of the box. A foul set up the set piece for the Cavaliers eight yards from the top of the box. Sutton took the free kick, playing a through ball on the ground to Zandi who slipped in behind the defense at the top of the box for the strike in towards the left post.
It was a relentless attack for the Cavaliers in the first half with Virginia having a 7-to-2 edge in shots, while also taking six corners on the way to the 1-0 lead.
Sutton extended the lead in the opening minute of the second half, striking off a pass from Spaanstra to take the Cavalier advantage out to 2-0. Spaanstra played the ball back to Sutton 23 yards outs. Sutton fired from distance, clipping the underside of the crossbar and into the goal.
The third goal came in the 65th minute when Virginia scored on another set piece. Taryn Torres (Frisco, Texas) served the ball into the box off a corner where Sutton headed it forward to Spaanstra just outside the six-yard box for the goal and the 3-0 lead.
The lead held as Virginia posted its second shutout of the weekend and went undefeated on the weekend road trip in ACC play after defeating Louisville 1-0 on Friday night.
Share
Contributors
