Northwestern Women’s Soccer falls 3-1 to Virginia in season opener

Through no fault of its own, Northwestern women’s soccer (0-1-0, 0-0-0 B1G) fell 3-1 at No. 11 Virginia (1-0-0, 0-0-0 ACC) in Charlottesville on Wednesday. Three entities in the past, the present and the future seemed to haunt the Wildcats from the starting whistle. 

The past was a long travel day on Tuesday prompted by Midwestern storms that caused Northwestern to have a 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. travel day and cancel its planned pre-match training session. 

The present was the discovery at kickoff that program-record-holding goalkeeper Nyamma Nelson had taken a knock in Northwestern’s exhibition match against Notre Dame and that senior CJ Roy, who had logged just 19 minutes in her collegiate career prior to this game, would be starting in net for the very first time as a Wildcat. 

And the future — potentially the most consequential of them all — came 34 minutes into the first half, when Keira Kemmerley went the wrong way off a feint by Pearl Cecil, crumpled to the ground, clutched what appeared to be her left knee, and had to be carried off the field and into the locker room.

But even long before that 34-minute mark, Northwestern had already fallen deep behind its ACC opponent. 

Pressure from the Cavaliers began early. In the fourth minute, Kemmerley got herself into trouble when she didn’t check her shoulder in Northwestern’s defensive end off a pass from Ava Goodin. Virginia’s Jordyn Hardeman pressured Kemmerley and poached the ball, forcing Kemmerley to pull Hardeman’s jersey in a tactical foul. She received a yellow card for the incident.

The Cavaliers scored off the free kick caused by Kemmerley’s foul, but Tatum Galvin’s goal was quickly overturned by the assistant referee.

Moving end-to-end, the ‘Cats got their first offensive opportunity of the game when Keira Wagner dribbled to the top of Virginia’s box and was subsequently taken out. Kennedy Roesch’s kick was subpar, careening low off the Cavaliers’ shins, and Northwestern was unable to hang onto the ball.

In the 7th minute, Virginia finally capitalized 1-0. A cross from Hardeman on the right side of the Virginia attack landed just outside the penalty box, deflected off Giovana Canali, landing centrally for Addison Halpern, who slotted it home past Roy. 

Though Virginia seemed eager to double its lead a few minutes later off a penalty challenge due to an alleged Maddie Finnerty handball, the appeal was denied. 

The Cavaliers’ 2-0 moment came anyway in the 21st minute, and in spectacular fashion. Canali received the ball halfway into Northwestern’s defensive half off a throw-in, nutmegging Audrey Alberts and dancing around freshman center back Naomi Lofthouse down the right wing. Seconds later, Canali pulled off a split between Holland Carey and Lofthouse just outside the 6-yard box and ripped a shot over Roy’s head, eliciting a roar from Canali and the crowd. 

Virginia’s dominant offensive possession continued through the first half. With 11:09 to go in the first half, the unthinkable happened: Kemmerley responded poorly to Cecil’s cut, flying to the wrong side of the pitch and clutching her left leg. It was an extremely concerning moment for the entire Northwestern team, and it’s safe to say that the ‘Cats never recovered for the rest of the first 45.

 With 5:00 to go, a miscalculated pass interception by first-year Elle Phillips in Northwestern’s midfield forced her to play a losing game against Halpern. Halpern beat Phillips and released a ball toward the penalty spot which was gladly met in the air by Aniyah Collier to make it 3-0. 

The Cavaliers had two more moments of action from Kyndal Shuler and Halpern in the first half but couldn’t capitalize any further. Northwestern was out-shot 9-1 by Virginia, and Roy notched five saves to Virginia goalkeeper Victoria Safradin’s one.

The second half started off hot for Phillips, who stood out as a defensive midfielder filling in for Kemmerley. Three minutes into the second half, Phillips disrupted Liv Rademaker in Northwestern’s defensive end and was tripped by her, forcing a yellow card onto Rademaker. A few minutes later, Phillips was the catalyst for a Wagner shot on goal when she intercepted a bad pass to Hardeman and handed it off to Wagner.

Northwestern’s next real chance at the attack happened ten minutes in, when Phillips sent a long lofted ball out to Kate Hennen on the left side. Roesch and Megan Norkett were soon linked in the play, with Norkett on the top left corner of the 18-yard box finding Roesch streaking toward the left post. Roesch shot the ball with her front foot just wide of the frame, creating Northwestern’s best chance of the game so far.

In the 78th minute, Sophia Bradley almost made it 4-0 for the Cavaliers from the top left corner of the 18-yard box, but the shot clinked off the crossbar. The post again became the ‘Cats’ 12th player with 11:01 to go when Aniyah Collier hit the left-hand post.

In the dying minutes of the second half, Northwestern finally found its time to strike. With 1:18 to go, Wagner was tripped up a few yards outside the 18-yard box and won the free kick for the ‘Cats. It was second-year Gabby Anderson who stepped up to take the kick, and she found Carey just inside the six-yard box to emphatically head it past Safradin. It came late, but it was exactly what the ‘Cats needed.

Northwestern finished the game with a 3-1 loss. The ‘Cats were outshot 16-5 and were called for six fouls to Virginia’s 13. Amid a flurry of substitutions, Finnerty notched a full 90 minutes, Norkett and Roesch played more than 80 each, and Olivia Elliott, Gwen Zimmerman, Phillips and Sarah O’Donnell all got significant time on the field. 

The ‘Cats will now head back home to Evanston to play Syracuse. The game will be streamed on Big Ten Plus at 7 p.m. CDT.