In its first conference matchup of the season, the No. 2 North Carolina women’s soccer (7-2-0, 0-1 ACC) team fell to No. 7 Virginia (8-0-1, 1-0 ACC) by a score of 3-2 Saturday evening at Dorrance Field.
What happened?
Through the first ten minutes of the game, the Cavaliers controlled possession, but neither squad was able to break past the chippy opposing defenses.
UNC redshirt first-year Ally Sentnor had the game’s first fast-break opportunity in the 11th minute, but Virginia senior goalkeeper Cayla White tapped the ball over the crossbar to keep the match scoreless.
In the 14th minute, UNC struck first. Sophomore forward Emily Murphy scored off a rebound from Avery Patterson’s first shot of the game. Despite an impressive initial save from UVA’s Cayla White, Murphy capitalized to put the Tar Heels ahead 1-0.
Ally Sentnor scored UNC’s second goal of the evening in the 25th minute as she dribbled past the UVA defense to the left of the goal and snuck a bottom-right shot past Murphy.
The Tar Heels continued to dominate possession at the conclusion of the first half, but the Cavaliers came out of the locker room aggressively to start the second. UVA midfielder Lia Godfrey attempted the Cavaliers’ first shot of the game in the 48th minute, but it was wide right of the goal.
The Cavaliers put their first points on the board nine minutes into the second half on an unassisted fast-break goal by forward Rebecca Jarrett that snuck past UNC goalkeeper Emmie Allen into the right of the net. With 35 minutes remaining, UVA began to close the gap, 2-1.
Nine minutes later, UVA’s Alexa Spaanstra headed a ball into the back of the net off a corner kick to tie the game, 2-2.
