On a brisk Thursday morning at First Horizon Stadium, with an 11 a.m. kickoff setting the stage, No. 5-seed Virginia wasted no time making a statement against No. 1-seed Notre Dame. Backed by a dominant first-half offensive display and a resilient second-half defensive stretch, the Cavaliers (11-3-4, 5-3-2 ACC) upset the top-seeded Fighting Irish (10-2-6, 8-1-1 ACC) in the ACC Championship semifinals.
Second-year midfielder Addison Halpern scored the decisive goal in the 38th minute, while fourth-year goalkeeper Victoria Safradin recorded five saves in the second-half alone to help preserve the clean sheet as Virginia punched its ticket to Sunday’s title match.
To start the match, the Cavaliers set the tone in the opening 45 minutes, pinning Notre Dame deep in their own territory. Virginia took nine shots compared to one shot taken by the Fighting Irish. The Cavaliers were also able to generate three corner kicks as Notre Dame conceded none. Early efforts from third-year forward Sophia Bradley, third-year forward Gio Canali and second-year defender Liv Rademaker tested the Fighting Irish’s junior goalkeeper Sonoma Kasica, who made two first-half stops to keep the match scoreless…