As the regular season begins to wind down over the next few weeks, Virginia women’s soccer coach Steve Swanson has his team in prime position for a chance of another successful postseason run.
Swanson has led the Cavaliers to 13 consecutive trips to the NCAA Round of 16. The team has qualified for the NCAA Tournament in all 18 seasons with Swanson as head coach, with 16 appearances in the Sweet 16 or better.
This weekend, the eighth-ranked Wahoos (9-2-0, 2-2-0 ACC) hit the road for one last trip before wrapping up regular-season play with four straight at Klöckner Stadium.
Tonight, UVa travels to take on Louisville (9-2-0, 3-1-0) at 7 p.m. before heading up to South Bend Sunday at noon to face Notre Dame (6-6-0, 2-2-0). Both of those games can be seen on ACC Network Extra, via the ESPN app.
Virginia’s two losses have both come on the road in ACC competition, both 1-0 defeats that really could’ve gone either way, at Clemson (in double overtime) and Virginia Tech.
The ‘Hoos looked dominant in a 5-1 win against Wake Forest this past weekend, the team’s first ACC contest at Klöckner this season and first home game in general in over three weeks.
Freshman Rebecca Jarrett put home her team-leading fifth goal of the year against the Demon Deacons. Jarrett leads the Cavaliers with 11 points on the season and has notched three game-winning goals.
Three other players — freshman Alexa Spaanstra, junior Meghan McCool and senior Betsy Brandon — found the back of the net Sunday as well. It was Spaanstra’s first goal as a Wahoo, while McCool scored twice in the convincing victory.
“Our players responded well today,” Swanson said after the game, “but we have to keep working on things. We’re capable of scoring goals, I’m confident of that. It’s about what happens when teams play us a little tighter and teams play us a little differently. We have to adjust, be a little sharper on chances and better about playing balls on frame and with our runs.”
Aside from the two losses, scoring has not been an issue this season. Virginia is outscoring opponents 29-7, while outshooting the competition 199-65. The ‘Hoos average 2.64 goals per contest and get off three times the amount of shots per game (18-6) as their foes.
Twelve different Cavaliers have scored this year, with 14 players contributing at least one assist. UVa has recorded 28 assists on its 29 goals, with sophomores Taryn Torres and Sydney Zandi leading the way with four helpers each. Zandi had two of those in the win over Wake.
Defensively, second-year keeper Laurel Ivory has allowed just five goals all season, registering three shutouts and a save percentage of 0.808.
After this week’s final road trip, Virginia hosts Pittsburgh (Oct. 14), Syracuse (Oct. 18) and No. 10 Florida State (Oct. 21) before concluding the slate with Senior Day against No. 23 N.C. State on Oct. 25.
The Panthers and Orange are both winless in conference play, with a combined 11 straight losses overall between the teams. The Seminoles and Wolfpack should present a tougher challenge the following week leading into ACC Tournament play, which begins three days after the State game.
