Recovering from giving up an early goal, Virginia women’s soccer’s No. 4 seed (13-5) kept its season alive and advanced to the second round of the 2024 NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship scoring twice to beat Princeton (14-5) for a 2-1 victory Friday night at Klockner Stadium. With the first-round win, the Cavaliers will face No. 5 seed Wisconsin in the second round.

The Tigers got on the board first by capitalizing on a critical mistake by the Cavaliers. Virginia turned the ball over at midfield and Princeton took it the other way. Pietra Tordin had a golden opportunity one-on-one and used an extra touch to get around UVA goalkeeper Victoria Safradin before finishing the easy goal to give the Tigres a 1-0 lead in the sixth minute of the match.

It took less than 10 minutes for the Cavaliers to equalize, as Yuna McCormack collected the ball well outside the box and launched a left-footed strike that went past Princeton goalkeeper Tyler McCamey and into the right back corner of the net to equalize at 1. -1.

Princeton outscored Virginia 4-2 in the first half, but neither team scored again in the first half as the game remained tied at halftime. The Tigers continued to outscore the Cavaliers in the second half, but it was UVA that scored the deciding goal.

In the 48th minute, Lia Godfrey made a great run through midfield before feeding Maggie Cagle down the right side. Cagle made a move to switch the ball from his right foot to his left before firing a shot that appeared to deflect off a Princeton defender over McCamey and into the back of the net to give the Hoos the lead .

Victoria Safradin made three decisive saves in the second half, including a few in the final minutes of the match, to preserve Virginia’s lead and secure the victory.

“It was a good decision by our group,” UVA head coach Steve Swanson said. “We’ve worked hard the last two weeks and it’s not very easy to sit back for two weeks, practice and come back and play a first-round opponent like Princeton. They were very good. What a great season they had. Full respect to their team and their program. They gave us everything they had and we knew it was a game that could have gone either way. I’m proud of our team after going down a goal, especially the way that goal happened, and to come back and get the win with two nice goals, it’s great. We’re happy to move forward and our fans have. were really fantastic tonight. They made a difference for us.

Next, Virginia will face No. 5 seed Wisconsin in the second round of the NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship on Friday, November 22. The Cavaliers and Badgers will likely play their second-round matchup against No. 1 seed Southern California, but if the Trojans suffer what would be a shocking upset against Sacramento State on Sunday, then Virginia would be in contention to host the second and third round matches. at the Klöckner Stadium.