No. 2 seed Virginia defeated top seeded Texas A&M 3-1 to reach their first ever Women’s College Cup final. Both teams had their chances throughout the match, but ultimately it was the patience and organization of the Virginia team that allowed them to emerge as the victors.
The match started off with Virginia as the much more dominant team. They took control of the ball and moved it around the attacking third with ease, waiting for an opportunity to open up to create a scoring chance. It was this patience that led to the first goal of the match in the 13th minute. Morgan Brian received the ball and sent a near perfect floater towards Makenzy Doniak who was streaking toward the goal. Doniak got her head on the ball and directed it low to the far post and past A&M goalkeeper Jordan Day to give Virginia the early 1-0 lead.
As the half progressed, A&M regained some control and was able to put some pressure on their own setting up a few opportunities of their own that were easily stopped by goalkeeper Morgan Stearns. It was smart positioning that ultimately saw them equalize in the 32nd minute. Virginia attempted to clear a long ball out of the box but it only made it as far as the edge of the box as two A&M players had hung back during the play. Kelley Monogue tied the game at a goal a piece when she fired it past Stearns, who looked out of position to make the save.
It looked as if the teams were going to go into the break level, but loose marking in the box allowed Virginia to pull ahead once more near the end of the half. Danielle Colaprico took a corner kick in the 44th minute that initially found the head of Tina Iordanou who sent it across the face of the goal. Day was able to get a hand on it but was unable to punch it out of play and the ball deflected right to Emily Sonnett who was open and waiting near the far post to put Virginia ahead 2-1.
A&M started the second half looking more settled and controlled. Their first chance of the half came just over a minute in as they broke up Virginia’s play and quickly moved the ball down the pitch. Bianca Brinson got a solid shot on goal but Stearns was able to tip it up and out of play. The resulting corner was quickly cleared by Brian. Mikaela Harvey had another good look a few minutes later, but sent it high over the goal.
In addition to creating more offensive opportunities, A&Ms defense and goalkeeping played a role early in the second half in the face of two dangerous chances for Virginia. The weather, which had provided a steady fall of rain, seemed to come into play during the first chance as the ball skipped off an A&M defender and right through to Doniak who found herself with a one on one opportunity. Day did an excellent job to cut off her angle and force a shot, which she was able to save. The defense found themselves in a hole, and then were able to pull themselves out to it several minutes later when a missed clearance sent the ball to a Virginia player right in front of the goal. Thankfully for A&M, the ball was poked away before any damage could be done.
Virginia’s defense was solid for the majority of the match and looked very organized. Even when they gave up possession, they were able to put pressure on the ball to win it back quickly and thwart A&M’s attack. Despite these defensive efforts, A&M saw their number of goalscoring opportunities increase as the half went on with their best chance coming in the 70th minute. Karlie Mueller took the ball down the right flank, picked her head up and fired it over toward Annie Kunz who was right in front of the goal. The ball took a favorable bounce and landed right at Kunz’s feet but she was unable to solidly strike it, allowing Stearns to make the save.
Virginia added an insurance goal in the 87th minute on a play that required a lot of patience on the part of Alexis Shaffer. After a well times tackle sent the ball to Shaffer, she dribbled into the box toward he goal. As two A&M defenders moved in to double team her, Shaffer slid the ball right between the two and into the right corner of the net; cementing Virginia’s place in the final.
Virginia will face Florida State, who beat Stanford in the second semifinal, at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday for the 2015 NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship.
Feature photo courtesy of Matt Riley and University of Virginia Women’s Soccer
