The Virginia women currently possess the 2nd longest consecutive streak of reaching the Sweet 16, and the second longest streak for making the NCAA tournament in the first place. And yet Virginia has won precious little in the past 30 years of highly competitive play. I expect all three trends will continue. If the women are to win even the ACC championship, this will be the year. We lost only four seniors, all of whom platooned two positions, so we are bringing back 8 of our top 9 players. The big hole is in the middle of the UVa 4-3-3: center mid. Coach Swanson used a much abbreviated spring session (3 of 5 games were cancelled for various reasons) and even experimented with moving center defender Phoebe McClernon to midfield. UVa's got the TopDrawer #14 incoming class coming in, so that's something. But we've got the vastly overrated Laurel Ivory in goal, so our defense is merely good. Unless 2nd year Alexa Spaanstra can make something of a herculean improvement, I think we'll bridesmaids yet again come NCAA tourney time. We're going to win a lot more than we lose, so it'll still be a fun ride I'm just not expecting a lot right now.
I'm an outsider on this UVA thread, but I'm guessing this will get testy pretty quickly. You've got Jarrett, Spaanstra and Constant as true 2nd year players who made significant contributions their first year. In most cases with good coaching (Check that with Swanson), these players make significant to occasionally huge jumps in efficiency and contribution. Additionally, upper classmen make strides as well. Given the number of key returnees, I would expect even stronger chemistry on the field. Add to that a very good incoming class, and there is no reason in my mind to think they can't make some serious noise. We'll see.
So, Virginia's schedule has dropped. Most notably for OOC play, we host Georgetown and Minnesota, and somehow, for the second consecutive year, we travel to Penn State. I was going to make the 4+ hour drive last year to see the women, but the entire mid-Atlantic was socked in with very heavy rains. And I wasn't going to drive for almost 9 hours just to get soaked. Maybe this year the weather will be more.... accommodating. The most glaring omission: no UNC in the regular season. Bah. I hate the ACC's expansion. Not getting to play UNC is an effing travesty. And if the Cavaliers are to lead the ACC in scoring (yet again) it got a little harder with the absence of perennial doormat Pitt, which is always good for a 6 or 7 goal explosion. Anyway, the schedule: AUGUST Aug. 23 UC IRVINE 7 p.m. Aug. 25 LIBERTY 7 p.m. Aug. 30 EAST CAROLINA 5:30 p.m. SEPTEMBER Sept. 1 WEST VIRGINIA 2 p.m. (ACCN) Sept. 5 GEORGETOWN 7 p.m. (ACCN) Sept. 8 MINNESOTA 12 p.m. Sept. 12 WILLIAM & MARY 7 p.m. Sept. 15 at Penn State 1 p.m. Sept. 20 at Wake Forest* 7 p.m. Sept. 26 VIRGINIA TECH* 7 p.m. Sept. 29 DUKE* 2 p.m. (ACCN) OCTOBER Oct. 4 at Miami* 8 p.m. Oct. 9 at NC State* 7 p.m. Oct. 13 at Florida State* 1 p.m. (ACCN) Oct. 20 NOTRE DAME* 2 p.m. (ACCN) Oct. 24 LOUISVILLE* 7 p.m. Oct. 27 BOSTON COLLEGE* 2 p.m. Oct. 31 at Syracuse* 7 p.m.
yeah they lost their German kid Kardesler to an ACL last year. I would assume she should be good to go this fall. also looking at their roster seems like they added 22 new players to the roster. Will be interesting to see what that looks like for Pitt. There was a huge gap between Pitt and the rest of the ACC.
An interview with Coach Swanson from the eve of the World Cup: https://news.virginia.edu/content/qa-uva-womens-soccer-us-national-team-coach-talks-world-cup Q. Becky has been a linchpin on past teams. What are your expectations for her this time around? A. She was such a critical part of our win in 2015. She’s a very cerebral player, very intelligent, very technical player. Not only is she a strong defender and the way she goes about the game with the skills that she has, but she’s also very positional-savvy. She knows where to be and gets in the right places at the right times and always seems to be snuffing out things and reacting to things before they happen. She’s got that much experience. Q. Morgan has had a rough last couple years and there was some thought she might not make the squad, but she seems to have persevered. A. It’s been very difficult for her because for most of her career she hasn’t been injured that much. A couple years ago, she became injured and since then it’s been hard for her to get back on track. Her situation was a little bit difficult and challenging for her because, all of a sudden, she had injuries that were affecting her game and timing. But she spent a lot of time and put a lot of effort into getting herself back to the point where she could physically perform. She’s proven she can play at this level; there’s no doubt about that. It’s just nice to see her be able to get herself back to where she was before these injuries. I think she can be a very important part for us because she can fill several different roles in the midfield. I think we’ll need that throughout the tournament. And her experience from 2015 will be integral. She hasn’t had a lot of game minutes under her belt, but I still think she’s someone who can provide minutes, if need be, in certain situations. That will be important for us as the tournament unfolds. Q. Emily seems like someone who has just gotten better and better. A. Yeah, she’s improved an awful lot. When she started at Virginia, she hadn’t played much defense at all in her career. She was always a center midfielder. She played four years of college as a central defender and really distinguished herself. But I think the pro game has given her even more experience against more sophisticated and better players who she needed to see more consistently to become a better defender. I think she’s really improved as a professional and I think that’s really helped her with the national team. She’s a very versatile player; she can play anywhere in the back. I think she deserves a lot of credit for understanding the differences in the roles and working very hard to improve herself. I think she’ll be an important piece for us. If you’re going to win the World Cup, you’re going to have to play seven games in a short time frame and will need a lot of players, and I think Emily will be an important piece as well.
Swanson after the WC... We couldn't ask for a better person to lead our program. Glad to have him back in the States as we close in on another season at Klöckner Stadium. #GoHoos https://t.co/lt7m3jqUNm— Virginia Women's Soccer (@UVAWomenSoccer) July 12, 2019
"But then, I think the ACC coaches are idiots when it comes to pre and post season voting/accolades. So there is that." I agree! McClernon not being All ACC is just one example.
Here's a stat I wish I could unsee. I was looking over UVa's record vs ACC teams and discovered that we have a winning record against every team in the ACC. Except UNC. We have a 4-37-4 record against the Tar Heels. I hate asymmetric scheduling, but given that we avoid UNC this year, this year might be the year we make some serious noise in the ACC.
Over the years, UVA has been tougher for FSU to beat than even UNC. Only recently have we gotten over that hump.
Virginia off to a decent start: a 7 - 0 beatdown of the UC Irvine Anteaters. Not much of a match, never in doubt, really more of an extended scrimmage game. Liberty on Sunday, which should yield the same kind of score.
At the 60 minute mark of Virginia's game with Liberty, I wrote in my notebook that the player of the game was Liberty's Mickayla Green. Even though we were winning 1-0, that should give you an idea of how the game was going. But thanks to a goalpost assist (it blocked the linesman's view) Alexa Spaanstra was ruled inbounds and she made the perfect pass to make the game 2 - 0. And the floodgates were opened and Virginia won 6 - 0. And Coach Steve Swanson recorded his 300th career win at UVa.
Was at UVA today. They dominated but struggled finishing for 65 minutes of play. Should have finished several unmarked headers in the first half. Poor Liberty zonal marking on those corners. Very poor by the AR on the second goal, not ACC quality to miss that one, big moment of the game by the officiating crew and they failed. My friend stated...."No VAR in D1 Women's soccer?" I laughed. Green was definitely the player of the game prior to that point. Liberty seemed to play the last third of the game as if the result didn't matter. Many starters were out while UVA kept their strong playmakers in. Very odd being down only 1 to nil at that point. 5 Liberty subs at 60:44, 2nd goal rolled in less than 5 minutes later. Spaanstra stayed in until 72:45. Liberty had their top goal scorer on the bench. The goals continued after that with no adjustments by Liberty. UVA probably should have had another PK to make it 7 but the ref made a "mercy" call in my opinion. A team with a decent bench would have given UVA trouble today. They weren't sharp despite the score.
I agree @ping that it was a huge miss, but I'm also not real sure how the AR is supposed to see that: players, net and goal were all in the way. And it was only over by a inch or so.
HoosPlace writeup: https://hoosplace.com/content.php?inc=2019082503 And video highlights. Obviously, I'm still getting my bearings here:
It's *probably* out, but that's not definitive. The ball is a globe, so the (small) part contacting the ground might well be behind the line, but the ball's equator could still be on (above) the line, if that makes sense.