Ordoñez hat trick pushes Cavaliers past Rice into NCAA Quarterfinals

By Kip Coons
Special to JerryRatcliffe.com

CARY, N.C. – It was a result worth waiting for, as far as Diana Ordonez was concerned.

Ordonez, the sophomore forward from Prosper, Texas, celebrated her third career hat trick Wednesday night as unseeded Virginia dominated from start to finish in a 3-0 victory over Rice in the third round of the NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship at WakeMed Soccer Park.

With the win, the Cavaliers (13-4-2) will advance to the NCAA quarterfinals for the first time since 2015 and play fourth-seeded TCU (12-1-2) at 5 p.m. Sunday, back on WakeMed Field #2, where they have played all three of their NCAA matches. The Horned Frogs advanced past 13th seed Georgetown on penalty kicks 3-1 after tying 1-1 through regulation and two overtimes.

The penalty shootouts for the TCU-Georgetown match, as well as the Clemson-UCLA showdown on an adjacent field, were delayed for over an hour by a stoppage for lightning. As a result, UVa, scheduled to play at 9 p.m., didn’t take the field until 10:15. It was 12:20 a.m. by the final horn, and a light rain fell throughout the game.

The weather didn’t seem to affect the Cavaliers, however. They had to wait out the delay on their team bus while getting instructions from the training staff on which healthy snacks to eat to keep up their energy.

When they finally got the chance to play, the Cavaliers quickly took control. They dominated the ball throughout, piling up offensive advantages in shots (16-2) and corner kicks (8-0). They played relatively mistake-free, committing only four fouls and no offside violations.

It took UVa a while to break down the Rice defense, though, as the Owls often positioned 10 players behind the ball and were content to let the Cavaliers move the ball from side to side with little resistance for first half.

Virginia finally got the opening it was looking for in the 37th minute when Ordonez took a short pass into the top of the penalty area and turned goalward. As she did so, Rice defender Mijke Roelfsema grabbed her by the arm and spun her down, earning the foul and resulting penalty kick.

Ordonez took the kick herself and beat All-Conference USA goalkeeper Bella Killgore to the upper left corner of the net.

Ordonez would complete her natural hat trick with two second-half goals, giving her a team-leading 12 on the season. She headed home a corner kick from senior midfielder Taryn Torres in the 68th minute to provide the Cavaliers some breathing room and connected on another header on a cross by freshman midfielder Lia Godfrey in the 82nd.

Godfrey’s assist finally got her into the scoring column after she was unlucky enough to hit the left and right posts with shots in the 61st and 80th.

Senior goalkeeper Laurel Ivory, who registered a career-high 11 saves in the 2-0 win over BYU in the second round, had a relatively quiet night. She had to make only one save, that coming 15 minutes into the match.

Killgore finished with three saves for Rice, which saw its 11-match unbeaten streak come to an end in its first meeting all-time against an ACC opponent.

UVa’s victory also gave the ACC a perfect 5-for-5 performance in the Sweet 16 round, joining Florida State, North Carolina, Duke, and Clemson in the Elite Eight.