Dawson, Jarrett chosen as UVA team captains

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

UVA head coach Steve Swanson announced that graduate student forward Rebecca Jarrett and midfielder Emma Dawson have been selected by the team as captains for the 2022 season.

Jarrett is returning for her fifth season with the Cavaliers while Dawson is in her fourth season with the Virginia program.

“They’re both veterans who have been around the program for a while, have good heads on their shoulders and understand the standard of the program both on and off the field,” Swanson said. “They have been great representatives of our program and the team trusts them. They will always do what’s best for the team. Our squad did a great job of choosing their captains.”

Jarrett enters her fifth season in the program after her 2021 campaign was cut short due to injury. She led the team offensively four games into the season with three goals and three assists at the time of her injury. Jarrett has been an All-ACC selection and was named to the All-Tournament team at the College Cup in the spring of 2021. She has also been an All-Region selection by the United Soccer Coaches.

“It’s an incredible honor to captain this team alongside Emma in my final season here at Virginia,” Jarrett said. “Not playing last year strengthened my appreciation for our team culture and forced me to develop my leadership voice off the field. Now I’m ready and excited to get the season going.”

Dawson is entering her fourth season with the Cavaliers and has appeared in 57 games throughout the past three seasons – including 13 starts. She hit the game-winning goal in overtime against No. 14 Pittsburgh in the fall of 2020 and added a goal and an assist in Virginia’s win over Boston College in her freshman campaign. Last season she assisted on a goal in the Cavaliers’ win over High Point in the NCAA Tournament opener.

“I’ve always been someone that prefers to lead by example over anything else, so I think being a captain on this team means embodying the values our culture is built upon day in and day out – no matter the circumstances,” Dawson said. “That means showing up with full effort and intention at every training session, holding myself and teammates accountable to our standards, constantly pushing for improvement, being resilient in difficult situations and forming meaningful and trusting relationships that will ultimately win us a national championship in December.

“It means a lot that my teammates chose me to be one of their captains, but I also think the responsibility of leadership is shared among every person on this team regardless of class or experience. I hope that by being a captain my teammates can trust and rely on as a source of support, they see themselves each as key contributors to our success and feel confident embracing their roles as leaders within our team and off the field.”

In addition to the captains, the Cavaliers also announced the members of the leadership committee that includes Claire Constant, Haley Hopkins, Lacey McCormack, Alexa Spaanstra, Lia Godfrey and Samar Guidry.

“The way we go about leadership for our team is we don’t want it to just be two people, we want more of a committee style of leadership,” Swanson said. “We established this group a few years ago and it includes players from different classes. There’s a good representation of the team and we put a lot on that group with regards to the example they set and input when having discussions about different aspects of our team and program. It builds a more leaderful team and doesn’t push the responsibility to one or two people.”

Virginia opens the 2022 season on Thursday against George Mason. Kick is set for 7 p.m. at Klöckner Stadium and tickets are on sale at UVATix.com.