The Virginia Women’s Soccer team came into their ACC opener in Chapel Hill on Saturday night ranked #7 in the nation with a 7-0-1 record, coming off a 0-0 tie the week before against VCU. The North Carolina Tar Heels team they faced was ranked second in the country with a 7-1-0 record. The only team that had beat Carolina so far this season was #1 ranked UCLA who beat them 2-1 on September 4th.
Carolina started the game off hot, going into halftime with a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Emily Murphy and Ally Sentnor. However, the momentum changed in the second half, as Virginia’s Rebecca Jarrett scored at the 54-minute mark, cutting Carolina’s lead in half. UVA would go on to score two more goals in the next 18 minutes, with the game-tying goal coming from Alexa Spaanstra in the 61st minute and the game winner from Lia Godfrey in the 72nd. Virginia would end up defending this lead and winning the game 3-2.
This win was very significant for the Hoos, who are now 1-0 in an ACC conference that has six teams ranked in the top 25. This win is Virginia’s first against UNC since 2014, and it marks the first time that a team has scored three or more goals against Carolina at home since Boston College did it back in 2010.
Virginia travels to Notre Dame on Thursday night, looking to improve to 2-0 in conference play against a 6thranked Notre Dame team who is coming off a 0-2 conference loss against #24 ranked Clemson.
