No. 3 Virginia Defeats Alabama, 3-0

Friday, September 5

Tuscaloosa, Ala.

7:00 p.m

Alabama

2-2-1

Virginia

4-0

Virginia

Alabama

No. 3 Virginia Defeats Alabama, 3-0

9/5/2014 12:00:00 AM | Soccer

Box Score

Sept. 5, 2014

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama soccer team fell to No. 3-ranked Virginia, 3-0, on Friday night in women's soccer action. The game was played front of a crowd of 1,308 fans, the second-biggest crowd in the history of the Alabama Soccer Complex.

"I really appreciate the support from the fans and community in general," said Head Coach Todd Bramble. "It was a special night and I know our players appreciate it. I know we will have bigger games down the road too, so hopefully we can fill the place again."

With the loss, Alabama falls to 2-2-1 on the season, while Virginia improves to 4-0.

"I certainly think we played a good first half," said Bramble. "We were a little more conservative than we normally would be. I thought if we did a good job defending, like we had been doing, then we were going to get some chances on the counterattack. They got a lucky goal in the first half off a deflection, which made it 1-0. I didn't think we were out of it. Their last two goals were set-piece goals. We didn't surrender many chances. There is a lot to take from that. Now we have to do a better job of generating offense in games than that."

Virginia (4-0) opened the scoring in the 38^th minutes when Alexis Shaffer struck a shot from 20 yards out that took a deflection off Alabama defender Abby Lutzenkirchen. The ball rolled to the far side of the net, past goalkeeper Emily Rusk and into the back of the net for a one-goal lead.

The Cavaliers continued to press forward and were rewarded at the 60:09 mark when Emily Sonnett scored off an assist from Meghan Cox for a 2-0 lead. Virginia (4-0) added a penalty kick at the 83:38 mark to result in the final score.

Virginia entered the game allowing just five shots in the first three games. The Tide finished the night with six shots, however, the Cavaliers countered with 23 strikes, eight of which came on frame.

The Tide played without one of its top offensive threats in senior forward Pia Rijsdijk, who missed the game with a leg injury.

The Cavaliers came in as the highest-ranked team to ever play at the Alabama Soccer Complex. The former top-ranked team to play in Tuscaloosa was then-No. 6 Florida in 2010.

The Tide will return to action when it welcomes Jacksonville State on Sunday night at 7 p.m. CT. The contest will air on SECN+.

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