BOCA RATON, Florida — Oftentimes, the later stages of knockout tournaments can lead to cautious, plodding and drab soccer.

That was not the case in the first semifinal of the 2014 College Cup between the vaunted Texas A&M and Virginia offenses, as both teams attacked. And then attacked some more.

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A back-and-forth game dominated by offense saw Virginia defender Emily Sonnett deliver the game winner with two minutes left in the first half, as the Cavaliers eventually pulled away with a 3-1 win.

“I’m happy to be moving on, it’s a good result for us,” said Virginia head coach Steve Swanson. “Getting that second goal when we did at the end of the half helped.”

A&M announced its intentions from the opening kickoff, when Kelley Monogue fired a shot on goal from the center circle five seconds into the game, a cheeky attempt to catch Virginia netminder Morgan Stearns off her line.

After an initial Aggie foray forward, Virginia slowly started to seize control, pinging around the ball with central midfielders Morgan Brian and Danielle Colaprico acting as the axis and hub of the offense.

In the 13th minute Brian drifted into a spot of space on the left sideline with the ball at her feet. Picking her head up, she curled in a beautiful ball over the head of Aggie defender Meghan Streight that forward Makenzy Doniak glanced home for the game’s opening goal.

“You get a goal like that, especially in this environment, it just kind of settles your team in a little bit more, and I think that helped us at the time,” Swanson said. “We obviously knew A&M is always a good starting team, they press really hard and for us to go ahead at that point in time was a critical part of the game.”

Buoyed by the opening strike, Virginia continued to ramp up the pressure. Brian had a free header from a corner kick in the 15th minute that she couldn’t get on frame. Alexis Shaffer’s rasping drive with her left foot also sailed over Jordan Day’s goal.

The Aggies were able to erase their opening struggles when Kelley Monogue equalized in the 32nd minute. Streight drove a free kick from her own half into the top of the Cavalier box. A failed clearance fell to Monogue, who fired off a low, skidding left-footed shot foot that nestled into the far corner.

“The clearance wasn’t very far, came right to my feet, and so I took it away from pressure and shot it into the corner,” Monogue said. “I knew that the ground was slick so keeping it on the ground was important.”

Neither side relented in its attacking endeavors. Monogue had a golden chance in the 39th minute, spooning an enticing Leigh Edwards cross over the crossbar. With an advantage in size and athleticism, the Aggies looked to leverage that on set pieces and through slightly more direct play.

However, Virginia edged back in front off of a set piece of its own in the 43rd minute. Cavalier defender Tina Iordanou nodded Danielle Colaprico’s in-swinging corner kick across goal, finding a wide-open Sonnett, who nodded the ball in from point-blank range to restore Virginia’s advantage.

“Tina hit it back across, went off the keeper, and I was just lucky to be in the right spot to hit it in,” Sonnett said of her tally.

Looking to get back on level terms quickly, A&M’s Bianca Brinson nearly scored two minutes into the second half, forcing Stearns to palm a drive over the bar.

But after that initial opportunity, Virginia wrestled control back from the Aggies. Makenzy Doniak almost extended the lead when Aggie center back Meghan Streight misplayed a long diagonal pass from Iordanu. Doniak latched onto the ball and was in on goal, though Jordan Day got down quickly and made the save.

A&M’s best chance of the second half came in the 70th minute. Right back Karlie Mueller’s marauding run into open space went unchecked, and her low cross found the feet of Annie Kunz. A misplay from a Virginia defender offered Kunz a chance to test Stearns, but she appeared to slip on the wet surface and could only send a weak effort rolling into the arms of the goalkeeper.

With the time on the clock dwindling, sophomore midfielder Alexis Shaffer put the game away in the 86th minute. After corralling a turnover at the top of the box, she dribbled into the area, and sent a low right-footed finish past Day to secure the win for the Cavaliers.

“The better team won tonight, pure and simple,” A&M head coach G Guerrieri said after the game. “I don’t think we can blame anything on a lack of experience…We just ran into a heck of a good team.”

Image credit: Matt Riley/virginiasports.com