Cavaliers Edged by Seminoles 2-1 in ACC Semifinals
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CARY, N.C. – The second-seeded Virginia women’s soccer team suffered a 2-1 loss to sixth-seeded Florida State in an ACC semifinal Friday night at WakeMed Soccer Park. The Seminoles (14-6-0) used a pair of second half goals to snap the Cavaliers’ (14-4-2) six-game win streak and advance to Sunday’s final.
“Give Florida State credit; they are a good team and did what they had to do in the second half,” said head coach Steve Swanson. “It was disappointing. We were in the driver’s seat and we didn’t execute in the second half. Hopefully it is a good lesson for us as we head into the NCAA Tournament. There were certainly some things we can take away from the game.”
The Cavaliers took the lead in 29th minute of play. Lauren Alwine (Elizabethtown, Pa.) headed in a corner kick from Molly Menchel (Alexandria, Va.) to give Virginia the lead. The Seminoles’ best chance of the first half came just before halftime as Tiffany McCarty had a breakaway, but her final touch was too hard and Chantel Jones (Midlothian, Va.) smothered the ball before McCarty could get off a shot. Virginia took the 1-0 lead into halftime.
In the second half, the Seminoles answered with a pair of goals to hand the Cavaliers their first loss when leading at halftime since a 2-1 loss to Duke in the 2003 ACC Tournament quarterfinals. McCarty drew Florida State even in the 55th minute as she got another breakaway and converted this time for her 15th goal of the season. Morgan Brian (St. Simons Island, Ga.) nearly gave the Virginia the lead in the 67th minute, but her shot from the top of the box hit the crossbar. A minute later, Janice Cayman turned from 30 yards out and fired a shot into the upper corner for her fifth goal of the season, giving Florida State the lead. The Cavaliers pressured the Seminole defense the remainder of the game, but couldn’t find the equalizer.
Virginia outshot Florida State 19-8 for the game and had a 10-4 corner kick edge. Jones made two saves in goal for Virginia, while Kelsey Wys made four saves for Florida State.
The Cavaliers will await their bid to the NCAA Tournament, which begins next weekend. The field of 64 will be announced on NCAA.com on Monday at 4:30 p.m.
#9 Florida State 2, #6 Virginia 1
#9 Florida State (14-6-0) 0 2 – 2
#6 Virginia (14-4-2) 1 0 – 1
Scoring Summary
1. UVa. Lauren Alwine 2 (Molly Menchel 6) 29′
2. FSU. Tiffany McCarty 15 (Dagny Brynjarsdottir) 55′
3. FSU. Janice Cayman 5 (Toni Pressley) 68′
Shots: UVa 19, FSU 8
Corners: UVa 10, FSU 4
Saves: UVa 2 (Chantel Jones 2), FSU 4 (Kelsey Wys 4)
Fouls: UVa 3, FSU 8
Attendance: 549