Cavaliers Defeat Radford 3-0
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Oct. 13, 2004
The Virginia defense held visiting Radford (5-7) to no short corners and one shot that went wide of the cage, helping the Cavaliers to a 3-0 shutout tonight (Oct 13) in a rainy night game held in Charlottesville. At the other end of the pitch, a trio of Cavaliers, including Megan Ponessa, scored to boost Virginia’s offense. Ponessa’s goal, her first career tally, came off an interception and gave Virginia (9-6) a two-goal lead early in the second half.
Virginia forced the action early, with Mia Link notching a pair of early shots before the Cavaliers were able to force a short corner. Minutes later with the ball coming out of the defense, Sarah Miller intercepted the hit and laid the ball up to Link, who forced a penalty corner. Katie Jo Gerfen’s direct shot was saved, but Biffy Cornelison, who had started the short, was there to collect the rebound and send it to the boards for a 1-0 lead 8:29 into the game. The Cavaliers drew three more corners in the half but were unable to convert, and led at the break 1-0 despite outshooting Radford 6-1.
Again Virginia started the half strong, and had three shots and two short corners in the opening three minutes of the second stanza, but the Hoos were unable to get on the board. A Cavalier foul just outside the circle gave Radford a free hit, but the pass across the circle was picked off by Ponessa, who took it into the circle and fired a shot into the far boards for her first career goal. Her tally at 39:05 gave Virginia a 2-0 lead and forced the Highlanders to take a timeout.
Eight minutes later Katie Phillips brought the ball upfield and into the circle where she forced a short corner. The Cavalier attempt went over the endline, giving the Highlanders a 16-yard hit. Again Radford looked to transfer the ball, but Link picked off the pass and took it into the circle where she scored her 15th goal of the campaign at 47:38.
The Virginia defense denied the Highlanders any penetration into the circle, keeping them above the 25 the remainder of the half and allowing the offense to generate four more short corners, but RU keeper Amy Dietz made two saves and Angela Feindt made a defensive save on a broken corner shot to keep the score at 3-0. Virginia’s Katherine Blair played the entire 70 minutes and was not called upon to make a save as she notched her first career shutout.
The Cavaliers continue their homestand with a game against VCU on Friday, Oct 15. Game time is 6:00 pm. The Highlanders travel north to face Georgetown on Saturday, Oct 16 in DC at 12:00 noon.
Linescore 1 2 F recordsRadford 0 0 0 (5-7)Virginia 1 2 3 (9-6)
Scoring summary:8:29 VA pc Cornelison 1-039:05 VA fg Ponessa 2-047:38 VA fg Link 3-0Goals: VA: Cornelison, Ponessa, Link
Keepers: VA: Katherine Blair (70 mins, 0 saves, 0 GA) RU: Amy Dietz (70 mins, 9 saves, 3 GA)Defensive saves: RU 1 (Feindt)Shots: VA 15, RU 1Short corners: VA 12, RU 0