With their head coach and one of their best players still over in Japan for the U.S. U-20 World Cup - which they won, by the way - the Virginia Women's Soccer team handled its business at home in the Virginia Nike Soccer Classic.
Three in-state foes - Richmond, George Mason and James Madison - descended upon Klöckner Stadium this weekend for four matches. The 'Hoos came away as the only undefeated team when the weekend ended. Here's the final standings after the four matches:
Virginia 2-0
George Mason 1-1
Richmond 1-1
James Madison 0-2
The Cavaliers took down the Patriots on Friday 3-0 and closed out the tournament with a 4-1 win over the Dukes. Virginia is on a seven game winning streak heading into conference play later this week. They have won every game since dropping the opener against Penn State back on August 17th.
Against George Mason, Junior Molly Menchel had two goals in the first half separated by only three minutes to give the Cavaliers a lead they wouldn't relinquish. Sophomore Kaili Torres added an insurance goal less than ten minutes later to close out the scoring on the night.
I guess the team felt bad about giving their fans a boring second half on Friday, so in Sunday's game against James Madison they left most of the scoring for the second half. Sophomore Danielle Colaprico gave Virginia an early lead in the 18th minute, but that was all of the scoring in the half. The Dukes tied it up in the 51st minute with a shot that nicked the post before hitting the net. That would be the end of their scoring, however, as Virginia would add three more goals before time expired.
First year Makenzy Doniak scored on a penalty kick (for a handball in the box) in the 66th minute. Ironically, she would have scored without the PK if the official hadn't blown the whistle to award the kick. Luckily she took care of business at the spot. Junior Gloria Douglas made it 3-1 in the 79th minute when she beat the keeper on a through ball from Colaprico. Junior Kate Norbo closed out the scoring in the 83rd minute with a header off a corner kick from fellow junior Amber Fry.
The Cavaliers start their ACC slate when they host N.C. State on Thursday night at 7pm. The game will be televised on the Fox Soccer Channel. The Wolfpack are 5-3 on the season after falling to Kansas on Sunday.