No. 4 Virginia earns hard fought victory at No. 12 West Virginia

For the third time since April, the Virginia women’s soccer team faced a tough West Virginia squad. The Hoos, ranked No. 4 nationally, picked up a pivotal road win over the No. 12 Mountaineers behind strong defense and an early goal from second year Diana Ordoñez. Virginia improved to 2-0 on the season with the win, while WVU fell to 1-1.

The two teams met in back-to-back games in the 2021 spring season, with West Virginia taking the win in Morgantown and the Charlottesville game resulting in a 1-1 draw.

Ordoñez got things started in the seventh minute, finishing a well-hit cross from Samar Guidry. Guidry drove the left sideline, getting ahead of her defender before making a smart cut-back to get space. The cross was perfectly placed, finding Ordoñez remarkably open for a header into the opposite corner for the goal.

The Cavaliers almost scored on a carbon copy of that play a couple minutes later, but Ordoñez’s header went just wide of the goal post. Virginia finished the game with just four shots, with three on goal, while the Mountaineers had three shots (two on goal).

This was Virginia’s sixth straight game keeping their opponent off the scoreboard as Laurel Ivory led the way with another shutout in goal. Ivory finished with two saves, including a couple difficult ones in the second half that kept Virginia’s advantage.

Virginia earned six corner kicks to WVU’s five, and both teams committed 10 fouls.

Guidry had a fantastic day with the one assist, and she made life difficult for the Mountaineers on both sides of the ball as she pressed expertly on attack and played 69 minutes without committing a foul defensively.

Next up, Virginia stays on the road with a trip to face George Mason on August 26 at 7pm before heading home to face George Washington on August 29 at 2pm.