MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The West Virginia women’s soccer team could not overcome a three-goal halftime deficit — falling to No. 6 Virginia 4-1 on Sunday.
“Give all of the credit to Virginia, they moved the ball well, exposed space and their speed of play was something we didn’t adjust to until the second half,” WVU coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said. “Unfortunately for us, a team like this is going to capitalize on our mistakes and that’s exactly what Virginia did.”
The Cavaliers (4-0) jumped out to the early lead as Diana Ordonez scored her seventh goal of the season in the sixth minute. Ordonez extended Virginia’s lead in the 16th minute as she chipped the ball in from just outside the goal box, before Alexa Spaanstra hit a shot from 25-yards out that went into the top-right corner of the net to give Virginia a 3-0 advantage heading into halftime.
The Mountaineers (2-2) registered one shot in the first half, while UVA tallied eight. The Cavaliers earned the only corner kick of the opening half.
WVU fell behind, 4-0, in the 49th minute as UVA put a cross in the box that bounced off a WVU defender and went into the net.
No. 12 WVU netted its lone goal of the afternoon in the 72nd minute as freshman forward Nicole Payne capitalized on a rebound that bounced to the right side of the box and sent a hard shot that landed in the left side of the net. The goal marked the first of her career.
“I’m super proud that Nicole was able to score her first goal,” Nikki Izzo-Brown continued. “We’re just going to build from this loss and get better.”
Virginia also managed to get more corner kicks and committed fewer fouls. Laurel Ivory had two saves for UVA. WVU’s Rylee Foster had one.
The Mountaineers will return to Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium at 7 p.m. Friday to face No. 7 Penn State.
