No. 1 UVA claims ACC regular-season title with 1-1 draw at No. 3 FSU

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

The No. 1 Virginia women’s soccer team locked up the ACC regular-season championship and top seed at the ACC Tournament on Thursday night with a 1-1 draw at No. 3 Florida State. Virginia outshot the Seminoles 12-to-10 for the match – including a 2-to-1 edge in the overtime periods – and held a 5-to-1 advantage in corner kicks.

GOALS

63’ – UVA: Diana Ordoñez (Samar Guidry)
67’ – FSU: Yujie Zhao (Clara Robbins)

HOW IT HAPPENED

Virginia (15-1-2, 8-0-2 ACC) struck first with a goal in the 63rd minute off the foot of Diana Ordoñez. Samar Guidry picked up a pass on the left wing and raced toward the endline, cutting in and playing a ball into the six. Ordoñez redirected it in from point-blank range to put the Cavaliers on top 1-0.

Florida State (14-1-2, 7-1-2) answered four minutes later when Clara Robbins tapped a ball out to Yujie Zhao who fired a shot from range that slipped into the upper right corner of the goal out of the reach of a leaping Laurel Ivory.

The teams would play to a stalemate down the stretch, though the Cavaliers would put a pair of shots on frame in the first overtime period, while the Seminoles’ only shot in overtime hit the post in the second overtime period.

NOTES

• The Cavaliers win the ACC regular-season title for the first time since the 2015 season and third time overall.
• Virginia also won the ACC regular-season title in the 2013 season with a 13-0-0 record that year.
• UVA played its second overtime match of the season – the other being a 0-0 draw at No. 5 North Carolina.
• With the draw, the Cavaliers are now 23-12-53 in overtime matches under head coach Steve Swanson.
• Diana Ordoñez scored her 14th goal of the season and now has 41 goals for her career.
• The 41 career goals by Ordoñez moves her into a tie for fifth all-time at UVA with Morgan Brian (2011-2014).
• Samar Guidry turned in her second assist of the season – the other came in a 1-0 win at No. 12 West Virginia.
• With the draw, UVA moved to 21-9-8 all-time against FSU and 2-1-2 in the last five meetings with FSU.

Box Score

FROM HEAD COACH STEVE SWANSON

“I’m very proud of the team tonight, not only for winning the championship, but even more for digging in and playing so hard at a challenging environment at Florida State. It was a great college soccer match that could have gone either way. We figured out ways to win throughout the year in the conference and that is saying a lot since it really is the most competitive league in the country.

On a personal note, I would just like to not only congratulate all of our players, but our coaching staff. We have an amazing staff here at Virginia and they have worked so hard to help us win. I feel very fortunate to work alongside all of them.”

UP NEXT

Virginia receives a bye in the ACC Tournament and will return to action in the semifinals of the tournament next Friday at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C. The Cavaliers will face the winner of Sunday’s quarterfinal match between Notre Dame and Clemson. Game times have yet to be determined for the semifinal matches.