Veteran Group Leads Way for Top-Seeded Cavaliers

By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Underclassmen play important roles for the University of Virginia women’s soccer team. In the NCAA tournament’s second round, for example, UVA started three first-years against Penn State, and a fourth freshman came off the bench to play 55 minutes Thursday night.

At the core of this Cavalier team, though, are such veterans as Lia Godfrey, Maggie Cagle, Laney Rouse, Victoria Safradin, Meredith McDermott, Ella Carter and Allie Ross. Each has been in the program for at least three years—in Godfrey’s case, this is her sixth fall on Grounds—and their collective experience, talent and savvy have been instrumental in Virginia’s success this season.

Godfrey, the ACC Midfielder of the Year, was named to the all-conference first team this month. Cagle, Rouse and Safradin were second-team selections.

The veterans’ impact has been immense, head coach Steve Swanson said after UVA’s 2-0 win over Penn State.

“This tournament in and of itself, it’s a mental challenge as well, because you can get caught looking ahead or thinking about things that are really not in your control,” Swanson said. “And to have players that understand that, understand the process, understand how important it is to take one game at a time, I think makes a big difference, because they can be the leaders for the younger players.”

Sixteen teams remain in the NCAA tournament, whose field will be halved again this weekend. Next up for Virginia (14-3-4), one of the four No. 1 seeds, is a third-round game with Big Ten champion Washington (15-2-6). They’ll meet at 2 p.m. Sunday at Klöckner Stadium.

Washington, a No. 4 seed, edged fifth-seeded Arkansas 1-0 in overtime Thursday afternoon at Klöckner.

Virginia focused all week on preparing for Penn State. UVA and Washington have met only once in this sport, back in 1997, and Swanson knew little about this current group of Huskies when he left Klöckner on Thursday night. But he was  confident his team would be ready Sunday.

“There’s not a style or a team [in the NCAA tournament] that’s presented something we haven’t seen during the year,” Swanson said. “And so you just have to go to the toolbox and figure out, OK, what do you need to do? What do you need to bring to the table to a certain game? This game was different than our last game.”

UVA opened the NCAA tournament with a 5-0 rout of High Point at Klöckner last weekend. That was the Hoos’ 12^th shutout of the season, and they recorded another Thursday night against a team they’d blanked 1-0 in early September.

Penn State, which finished 10-8-3, scored at least one goal in 18 of those games. “This not an easy team to shut out,” Swanson, who’s in his 26^th season at Virginia, said of the Nittany Lions.

Safradin, the Cavaliers’ goalkeeper, credited the teammates who play in front of her.

“Amazing defense,” she said. “I owe everything to them. I barely get shots sometimes because they’re blocking all the balls, so I really owe everything to them.”

Safradin, a junior, was perhaps too modest. She made four saves against Penn State, and two were spectacular. Her first, in the 20^th minute, prevented the Nittany Lions from taking a 1-0 lead.

“They have a couple chances, and I’ll tell you, if she doesn’t make those saves, it’s a different game,” Swanson said. “But a good goalkeeper is able to do that. She had some action and she made saves when we needed her to make saves.”

Cagle said: “Viki’s had an incredible year. We’ve seen the work that she’s put in behind the scenes, and we see her make those saves every day in practice, so we’re not surprised.”

The Cavaliers, who dominated possession in the first half, finally broke through in the 28^th minute, on a shot by Cagle that eluded Penn State goalkeeper Mackenzie Gress.

“I think getting a first goal in a game like today is really, really important,” Swanson said. “I don’t think you can discount that.”

The score at halftime was 1-0, but Swanson wasn’t sure one goal would be enough. “We really had to push for the other one, and so it was good to see Lia get that goal.”

That came in the 68^th minute on a left-footed blast by Godfrey. The two-goal lead, Swanson said, gave the Hoos “a little more ability to say, ‘Hey, look, we’re going to sit in here a little bit. We don’t have to come flying out at you guys. We don’t have to get stretched. We can keep it tight, and you’re going to have to come through us.’ ”

Cagle’s goal was her 11^th of the season and put her in the team lead. That proved short-lived. Godfrey’s goal was her 11^th of the year, too, and Cagle was happy to share the lead with her friend.

Playing alongside Godfrey has been “so special,” said Cagle, a senior. “I was saying this to somebody the other day, just being able to learn from her as well over my four years—her six years—has been incredible.”

The Hoos have reached the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2022, when they fell to eventual champion UCLA in the quarterfinals. They’re two wins from advancing to the College Cup for the first time since the 2020-21 school year.

“I think we’ve got a lot of momentum,” Cagle said. “Our game against High Point to start us off went well. We got a lot of players getting a lot of chances on goal, a lot of goals in general, so I think having that momentum coming to this game was really helpful. And I feel like we put another really good performance out on the field today, which is always awesome moving into the next one against Washington.”

Of the 64 teams that entered the NCAA tournament, UVA had played the toughest schedule. That made for some challenging moments along the way, Cagle acknowledged, but the Cavaliers are better for those experiences.

“I think we had lot of really great games this year,” she said. “We also had ebbs and flows, which any team does throughout their season. I think for us they came at a pretty good time. I think we were able to take what we needed to learn from those games and apply it to this postseason.”

As one of NCAA tournament’s No. 1 seeds, Virginia could play as many as four home games.

“It’s amazing,” Cagle said, “especially in my last year here too. Selfishly, I love being at home. Having the 1-seed in general is always a feat to begin with, and it’s just really special to be able to play at home. Obviously, we get the amazing fans and the environment that we’re used to, so it’s a huge advantage and something we definitely earned, but  we’re very excited and looking forward to continuing to stay here and play on Klöckner.”

UVA lost McDermott and Maya Carter to injuries during the game, and Swanson wasn’t sure afterward if they’d be available Sunday. “They’re very important pieces for us,” Swanson said, and so to see them get hurt was “disappointing and tough. but we had some other players step up, which was good to see too.”

The Cavaliers’ depth is “super important,” Safradin said. “We have so much of it on this team. Everybody knows that at any moment they can be put in and at any moment they have to be able to play their top game and really help us out.”

To receive Jeff White’s articles by email, click the appropriate box in this link to subscribe.