![]() Swanson must have given another miracle talk at the half because it only took Virginia four minutes to equalize. The Wahoo players knew how lucky they were as they trudged off the field: it should have been a goal. With two minutes remaining in the first half, Allie George slipped behind the Virginia line and had the entire goal in front of her, and she skied the shot. The team is digging a big hole by giving up a goal like that every other game.Īnd the deficit could have been much worse. That is now the third goal given up from a corner in UVA’s last five games. Seriously, there’s a ring of six Cavaliers around her and no one able to make the play. Emmalee Carter drove in a beautiful corner that Virginia keeper Kayla White could only palm away, directly to a wiiiide open Taylor Price, who headed the ba home. If you have paid attention the past month, you know where this is going. Tech’s Natalie Mitchell, almost by force of will, won a corner kick. Virginia Tech drew first blood with about 15 minutes left in the first half. Which would seem to be a strength, wouldn’t it? Having a more mobile central striker with good finishing skills? But I suspect Haley’s involvement in the buildup is as a result of the midfield struggling to assert its usual dominance. Hopkins is also much better about coming back to receive the ball and she’s stronger in the middle of the pitch than McCook and Ordonez. I’m also not sure that the team has learned how to play with Haley Hopkins, who moves much wider across the pitch than her immediate predecessors, instead of Meg McCool and Diana Ordonez. If the defense keeps pressure on her from behind, but has the pace to not allow Godfrey to separate, she’s less likely now to give it up and the defensive line can step up at the edge of the penalty box to snuff out her run. She’s a wonderful dribbler, but she’s holding onto the ball too long. There seems to be an emerging consensus on how to defend Godfrey. For the third game in a row, it probably took 15 – 18 minutes for Theoret to get more than just a couple of touches. The starting midfield of Lia Godfrey, Alexis Theoret and Emma Dawson failed to control the middle of field. The Hokies would earn a pair of yellow cards on the night (and could easily have picked up a third) and even on plays where they didn’t foul, the tackles were hard and the Cavs were slow to pick themselves off the deck afterwards. Virginia huffed and puffed around the field for most of the first half and they struggled a bit with Tech’s physicality. This Virginia team, in the month of October, is losing the plot. I think that is because one team is markedly less focused than the other, attention wanes, and mistakes are made. ![]() More goals are conceded (at least at the professional level) in the first five minutes, and the last five minutes, of each half. But there is something off about this team and I’m not sure if head coach Steve Swanson knows what strings to pull. How many teams in the country would love to be able to say that this constituted the worst three-game slide in six years? Just about all of them. ![]() And all things considered, losing to Florida State even after the ‘Hoos out-played them, and then drawing twice in the ever-rugged ACC, is not awful. In the six years now that I have been able to watch every game for these women, this is the worst skid that I’ve seen. Virginia allowed Virginia Tech to equalize with 39 seconds remaining. I drank from it during many a win in Ralph Sampson’s final year, as well as for the Don Majkowski/Jim Dombrowski offense that took the Virginia Cavaliers to their first ever bowl game (and win). To do my part, I grabbed my lucky stadium cup from first year. Following a week in which Virginia surrendered a goal in the first 45 seconds (FSU) and then goals in the 2nd and 88th minutes (Syracuse) it was all hands on deck.
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