Miller's Hat Trick Fuels Virginia's 5-0 Rout in Blacksburg
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Oct. 21, 2012
BLACKSBURG, Va. – The No. 11 Virginia women’s soccer team clinched a spot in the 2012 ACC Tournament in emphatic fashion, downing No. 22 Virginia Tech 5-0 on Sunday night at Thompson Field. Senior forward Caroline Miller (Rockville, Md.) led the Cavaliers with three goals and an assist, tying the school record for points in a game with seven.
The Cavaliers improve to 12-4-1 overall and 5-3-1 in the ACC with the victory, clinching their 19th consecutive season of finishing .500 or better in the conference. The Hokies fell to 12-5-1 overall and 3-5-1 in the ACC.
“This was a big result for us,” said head coach Steve Swanson. “Coming off the disappointing loss at Florida State last week, this was a good response by our team. We take this rivalry very seriously and knew we were going to have to be at our best to get a win down here. This is a big confidence builder for us moving forward.”
Virginia took the lead in the 29th minute of play on a gave-and-go play between Miller and Danielle Colaprico (Freehold, N.J.). Miller sent a through ball to Colaprico, who dribbled to the end line. Colaprico picked out Miller about 10 yards in front of goal, who fired a blast into the top of the net for her 10th goal of the season. With that goal, Miller became the first Cavalier to post double-digit goal totals in consecutive seasons since Kelly Hammond in 2003 and 2004.
The Cavaliers controlled play in the second half from the start and doubled their lead in the 66th minute. Morgan Brian (St. Simons Island, Ga.) won a ball in the midfield and found Miller at the top of the box. Miller took a touch and fired a shot just inside the post for her second goal of the night.
Miller completed her second career hat trick in the 74th minute as Makenzy Doniak (Chino Hills, Calif.) found her all alone at the six-yard box and she slotted home her 12th goal of the season.
Two minutes later it was Miller on the set-up of Virginia’s fourth goal of the night, as she threaded a ball into the box that Gloria Douglas (Fayetteville, N.C.) finished for her third goal of the season. With the assist, Miller tied the school record for points in a game with seven. It was seventh time the feat has been accomplished, the last coming by Miller against Liberty last season.
It was Miller’s 10th career multi-goal game and her fourth this season. Seven of those 10 multi-goal performances have come against ACC competition. She also moved into third place on Virginia’s career goal list with 37, and sixth on Virginia’s career points list with 89.
“I felt pretty good after warm-ups and was confident going into this game,” said Miller. “We knew we needed to get wins in these final two regular season games and we came out from the start ready to go tonight. We got the result we wanted here and now have to focus on Thursday.”
Virginia capped the scoring in the 84th minute when Shasta Fisher (Saugus, Calif.) tallied her first goal of the season. After a corner kick bounced out to her at the top of the 18, Fisher fired a shot that was blocked by a defender. The rebound came right back to her and she blasted the ball into the upper corner of the goal from the top of the 18-yard box.
“We have done a good job of finishing the chances we have created this season,” said Swanson. “The problem we have had at times against quality teams was creating a lot of good chances. We were able to do that tonight. We had 24 shots and a lot of them were quality shots. We have some good goal scorers on this team and when we create the chances we did tonight, we are going to put a good number into the net.”
Virginia outshot Virginia Tech 24-9 and had an 8-5 corner kick advantage. Danielle DeLisle (Baltimore, Md.) made four saves in goal for the Cavaliers to post her fifth shutout of the season. Dayle Colpitts made five saves at the other end for the Hokies.
It marked the fourth consecutive shutout victory for the Cavaliers over the Hokies, having outscored their intrastate rival 16-0 in those contests over the past three seasons.
The Cavaliers will conclude the regular season on Thursday as they host Boston College. Game time at Klöckner Stadium is slated for 7 p.m. Prior to the game the four senior members of the team (Miller, Erica Hollenberg, Julia Roberts and Carrie Wisman) will be honored.
#11 Virginia 5, #22 Virginia Tech 0
#11 Virginia (12-4-1, 5-3-1) 1 4 – 5
#22 Virginia Tech (12-5-1, 3-5-1) 0 0 – 0
Scoring Summary
1. UVa. Caroline Miller 10 (Danielle Colaprico 5) 29′
2. UVa. Caroline Miller 11 (Morgan Brian 2) 66′
3. UVa. Caroline Miller 12 (Makenzy Doniak 7) 74′
4. UVa. Gloria Douglas 3 (Caroline Miller 3) 76′
5. UVa. Shasta Fisher 1 (unassisted) 84′
Shots: UVa 24, VT 9
Corners: UVa 8, VT 5
Saves: UVa 4 (Danielle DeLisle 4), VT 5 (Dayle Colpitts 5)
Fouls: UVa 6, VT 6
Attendance: 873