CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Virginia earned its third consecutive shutout victory, blanking Radford 5-0 on Tuesday.
Radford took the first shot of the game, firing the ball wide of the Virginia net 3:14 into the contest. It was the last shot Radford would get off in the game while Virginia took 31 shots, 24 on-target, with Radford goalkeeper Sidney Encarnacion making 15 saves and Radford defenders logging an additional four defensive saves.
With the win, Virginia improved to a perfect 25-0 against Radford. The Cavaliers improved to 12-1 on the year, 10-0 against non-conference opponents and 1-1 in the ACC. Radford fell to 3-7 overall.
"Congratulations to the defense," head coach Michele Madison said. "It started with the front of the press and the front of the defense when we didn't have the ball yet on the press. The defense put in some extra time by themselves today to walk through the press and it really helped. It really was a total-team effort. Hopefully we will be able to ride this momentum into the weekend when we go up to play a pair of top-ranked teams."
Freshman Katie Kelly scored her first career goal, which proved to be the game winner, five minutes before halftime. Fellow freshman Lucy Hyams added a score in the final two minutes of the period, converting on a pass from senior Elly Buckley. Buckley, the ACC leader in goals scored, added two in the second half, bringing her season tally to 17. Freshman Caleigh Foust netted the Cavaliers' fifth goal in the final minute of the contest.
It was the fifth shutout of the season for the Cavalier defense and the third in the last five days with UVa shutting out No. 15 Wake Forest 3-0 on Friday and Liberty 2-0 on Sunday.
