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BLACKSBURG, Va. -- The University of Cincinnati women's soccer team saw its historic season come to a close in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, falling to Virginia Tech, 4-0, on Saturday evening.
The Bearcats (13-6-5) held strong in the first half, trailing just 1-0, but the fourth-seeded Hokies (14-3-2) proved too strong on the attack and pulled away for the 4-0 decision. VT moves on to the second round of the NCAA Tournament to face Ohio State.
The loss caps Cincinnati's best season since 2002. In a campaign littered with season-ending injuries to six major contributors, the Bearcats posted consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 2000-02, winning the American Athletic Conference Championship (first conference title since '02) and advanced to the NCAA Championship. Third-year head coach Neil Stafford has posted the highest win total over the first three seasons of any coach in program history.
// GOAL SCORING SUMMARY
25' - VT Murielle Tiernan (Morgan Conklin)
The Hokies got the lone goal of the first half when Conklin played it low through the box and Tiernan send it just inside the post.
53' - VT Alani Johnson (Maurelle Tiernan)
Tiernan took an initial shot that was save by UC keeper Sam Pavlika (Temperance, Mich./Novi), but Johnson was there to clean up the rebound and make it 2-0.
57' - VT Alani Johnson (unassisted)
Johnson struck again, this time taking a shot that deflect off a UC defender and gave Pavlika no chance to make the save.
69' - VT Candace Cephers (Kallie Peurifoy)
The Hokies scored the final goal of teh night when Peurifoy sent a corner kick in and Cephers was there to head it just inside the post.
// MATCH NOTES
- Pavlika made seven saves in her final UC match, matching a season-best.
- Cassie Wheldon (Waterloo, Canada/Bluevale) registered Cincinnati's lone shot on goal.
- Laura Rose (Cincinnati, Ohio/Walnut Hills) had the Bearcats' best scoring chance, a sliding shot off a cross from Danielle Rotheram (Toronto, Ontario/Holy Trinity Catholic) that went just wide of the post.
- Pavlika, Rotheram, Rose & Kelly Latimer (Lake Forest, Calif./El Toro) all played in their final career matches.