Notre Dame brought an attack that featured the ACC’s co-leading scorer, Sammi Fisher, freshman Korbin Albert, who had already notched 7 goals on the season, and the speedy Olivia Wingate, who would be the most dangerous player on the day.   Facing a Virginia team that has started slowly the past several games, Notre Dame’s game plan was simple: press high and tight against Virginia and create the havoc that would allow Fisher and company to run at goal.

Virginia         2
Notre Dame  1

It didn’t work.  To be sure, Notre Dame came right out pressing, but the Irish couldn’t create any takeaways and when they did gain possession, they were so out of shape they couldn’t maintain said possession.  It was probably six minutes into the game before Notre Dame completed their 20^th pass.

Notre Dame lined up with a 3-back defense, and thirty years after the 3 – 5 – 2 had largely fallen out of favor, across the soccer world, this lineup is suddenly back in vogue.  Coaches choose their lineups for a variety of reasons, and as a coach, I love the 3 – 5 – 2. (It affords me more positions that I am best at developing and it transitions nicely from the nine-sided 3 – 4 – 1.)  But teams that line up in the 3 – 5 – 2 against Virginia do so at their peril.

Virginia lines up with the equivalent with two traditional center forwards, Haley Hopkins – three goals in the past two games – and Diana Ordonez  — 10 goals on the season and co-leader with Sammi Fisher for the scoring crown.  All three central defenders have to stay home to defend them which means that it is the wingbacks, the outside pair in the midfield five, who have to cover Virginia’s winger, Alexa Spaanstra and left defender Samir Guidry.  Virginia is not going to surprise anybody.  Spaanstra is going to play very wide, hugging the touch line as her default starting position.  And UVa has a long track record of left side defenders who have free reign to ignite the attack.  Most recently with Courtney Petersen, think David Beckham-quality service – and now Guidry who is the best dribbler in the ACC.

Several teams have lined up in the 3 – 5 – 2 against Virginia, and thus far there hasn’t been a wingback who can cover Spaanstra and she’s been given acres of space to run right at the defense.  And on the left side, I’m not sure there is anybody who can stop Guidry.  Her final ball is improving and once she gains the confidence to similarly run right at the defense, she’s going to be unstoppable.

The attractiveness of the 3 – 5 – 2 is that the numbers should allow for the team to win the battle for midfield.  Yet despite all their energy and commitment to the high press, Virginia always had the safety valve of Spaanstra down the right.  Virginia controlled the entire first half though a flurry of UVa chances about 12-15 minutes in yielded nothing.  This UVa team is rather profligate but the tone was set and the Cavaliers went into halftime feeling pretty good about their chances.

Except that in the 2^nd half, Notre Dame dropped back into a four-back defensive line and Spaanstra didn’t have the space.  Guidry started slow and Notre Dame again brought the energy, controlled the midfield and had won their first corner of the game 30 seconds into the second half.  Within five minutes the Irish had two great chances to score in a 30-second flurry.  Keeper Laurel Ivory made a pair of first class saves to keep the score level.  Virginia’s best (read that only) chance to score came 20 minutes in when Spaanstra got onto a fine Guidy cross, only to ski the shot.

The game was Notre Dame’s for the taking, but the emblematic play of their day came in the 67^th minute when Kati Druzina got the ball 8 yards away from goal, with no one in front of her, and she chose to play a through ball into a very clogged center-of-the-box.  The goal is 8 feet tall and 8 yards wide and Druzina had it all in her sights and she passed on the chance.  It was a shot that had to be taken because Virginia ain’t going to give many such looks.

Virginia slowly climbed back into the game and with 15 minutes left, the Cavs were in the driver’s seat.  The first goal began with Lia Gofrey stealing the ball and stopping a Notre Dame attack.  She turned on the ball beautifully, fed Ordonez for a give and go and found Spaanstra wide open (and I do mean wide open) on the right.  I don’t know where the defender/wing back had gone, but Spaanstra drove right at goal and skipped the ball over Ashley Naylor and the Cavs were on the board.

Less than a minute later, Spaanstra got the ball wide and drilled a precise ball to the oncoming Haley Hopkins who unleashed a simply explosive header for the second goal.  Just as when Hopkins scored her second goal against Syracuse, Ordonez’ early near post run dragged two defenders toward the end line and gave Hopkins the space to capitalize.  Another minute later, Spaanstra again found Hopkins, but this time it was a weak shot and it was easily saved.  No matter.  Virginia was taking the game to the Irish and not rocking on their heels in some sort of prevent defense.

But soccer is a funny game and no lead is ever safe.  Notre Dame didn’t give up and with five minutes remaining, Korbin Albert found herself with the ball outside the Virginia box.  She caught Ivory napping, maybe a step or two off her line, and drilled a lovely shot to the top left drawer of the goal.  Game on and it took a great Lacy McCormack tackle in the box to preserve the win.  At no time did Virginia stop trying to play the Virginia Way and it didn’t seem that Notre Dame had any excess reserves to tap into.  The ball just bounced their way and they converted.  Ball bounced their way again and it took an all-world tackle to snuff out their last chance.  As I said, soccer is a funny game.

HIGHLIGHTS | A pair of quick second-half goals help the No. 2 Hoos remain unbeaten in ACC play with a 2-1 win over No. 17 Notre Dame.#GoHoos ?⚔️? | #ALLIN ⚽️? pic.twitter.com/zQX6lXVJCd

— Virginia Women's Soccer (@UVAWomenSoccer) October 18, 2021

And with that, Notre Dame was knocked from the ranks of ACC unbeatens leaving Florida State and UVa squarely atop the table.  Here’s what Steve Swanson had to say:  “It was a great win for us. We owe a lot to the fans. They were fantastic and what an atmosphere here. It was great to see us come out on the winning end.”  This was the largest crowd that I have seen at Klockner in years – listed as just shy of 2500 – and the East Bank was loaded.  It was Pride Day, as explained by our friends over at Streaking the Lawn.  The women have a lot to be proud about following this one.

Injury Watch:  Brianna Jablonowski?  She’s become the first forward off the bench for Swanson, but she wasn’t in evidence on the field as both Hopkins and Ordonez logged a full 90 minutes.  She was lined up with other substitutes warming up, but she never featured.

Next Up:  Louisville, currently sitting 8^th in the ACC and on a three-game losing streak, comes to Klockner on Thursday, October 21^st.  Game time is 7pm.