Pearl Cecil and Jordyn Hardeman will head to Argentina for a pair of friendlies with the U.S. U-19 Women's Youth National Team.#GoHoos | #ALLIN https://t.co/8e9NboZyC4— Virginia Women's Soccer (@UVAWomenSoccer) April 2, 2026 Pearl Cecil and Jordyn Hardeman are answering the call for the U-19 WNT, joining the side for a pair of friendlies against Argentina in Buenos Aires.
Kyndal Shuler is heading back to training camp with the U.S. U-18 Women's National Team.📰: https://t.co/vopu4WJadQ#GoHoos | #ALLIN pic.twitter.com/oei4OvARYk— Virginia Women's Soccer (@UVAWomenSoccer) April 3, 2026 Kyndal Shuler is joining up with the U-18 WNT for training camp.
Gio Canali got the call and will represent 🇧🇷 in friendlies against the US U-20 team in KC this month.📰: https://t.co/7S58XB7zW1#GoHoos | #ALLIN pic.twitter.com/Y1aiI94kM4— Virginia Women's Soccer (@UVAWomenSoccer) April 3, 2026 Gio Canali is the fourth Cavalier to be selected for international duty this window, joining the U-20 Brazilian national team for a pair of friendlies against the U-20 USWNT in Kansas City!
Together with Halpern in U-20 USWNT, Rademaker as former U19 Dutch International that gives this this team quite some International experience. Still young but very talented.
Well, seems to have worked out well for the Wave. So far. Godfrey scored three goals in her first four games, with an assist to boot, and was named to NWSL's team of the month for March. Godfrey got faster last year. It was like she got a Tommy-John like bounce from her knee surgery. A great pro career awaits her.
Well, on paper, that's what the doctor ordered. Rare to find a coach who is as averse to speed as Swanson is. (The team already lost their two fastest players in McDermott and Rouse, and Helen Olszewski never got off the bench.) And Meredith McDermott was just a black hole at striker. And Halpern ain't a striker. Hoping she advances her game playing in the midfield this year.
LOL. Is Steve averse to speed? Or is he unwilling to use it without some technical/tactical proficiency? You know my kid played and was plenty fast enough! However, Steve never built game plans around knocking balls in behind and having her outrun teams. Makes the player quit or get better. There are some big College teams that definitely use speed for the sake of it. Said is before. Steve is among (if not THE) best at developing high IQ, technical players who can play at the highest levels for a long time. A truly exceptional coach
Coach Swanson is probably the antithesis of kick-and-run soccer, and his players reflect that. His reliance on technicality over speed has definitely led to some slower back lines, however, which can bite them on hoofed balls over the back line and breakaways. Opposing teams, especially in the ACC, have figured this out about Virginia. Definitely need a good mix of technicality AND speed, maybe something we’ll see more of with a change to a 3-5-2/5-3-2 this season (if that holds over from the spring). Losing Rouse’s speed on the right side is a tough blow for the defense for sure. Lots of untapped potential on this roster, excited to see many debuts this fall.
We're saying the same thing. Swanson doesn't care about speed vis a vis vision and technical proficiency. It was you that convinced me that other coaches gameplanned against your daughter's speed whereas Swanson didn't gameplan in favor of it. It's clear to me that he doesn't recruit for speed. And speaking of which, I'll be interested in seeing if Aniyah Collier has any left after losing two years to leg injuries.
Let me share the vision I was brought up with in the Netherlands, coming from one of the most influential game changers of this beautiful game. Johan Cruyff had a clear vision of playing fast, where speed wasn't about running hard, but about moving the ball quickly through smart positioning. His key principles were: The ball determines the speed: Cruyff argued that if you want to play faster, you don't necessarily have to run faster. "Essentially, the ball determines the speed of the game." After all, the ball always moves faster than the player. Keep it simple: He emphasized that fast, quality football is "simple football," which he described as the most difficult way to play. This means taking fewer touches, passing quickly, and making the right decisions. Intelligence over physicality: Cruyff valued football intelligence over physical strength. Playing fast means thinking ahead and anticipating, forcing the opponent to make mistakes. Positional play: Fast play was made possible through positional play (tiki-taka), where players constantly formed "triangles" to stay available and keep the ball circulating. In short, for Cruyff, "playing fast" was synonymous with "playing smart and simple," where the ball does the work, not the player.
The Fall exhibition schedule has been finalized now as well. The full schedule now is as per below: Fall 2026 Exhibition: Wednesday August 5th vs Maryland - 7:00pm Saturday, August 8th vs DC Power - 8:00pm Non Conference: Wednesday, August 12th vs Northwestern - 7:00pm Sunday, August 16th vs Liberty - 5:00pm Thursday, August 20th vs La Salle - 4:00pm Thursday, August 27th vs JMU - 7:00pm Sunday, August 30th vs Yale. -7:00pm Thursday, September 3rd vs Tennessee - 7:00pm Sunday, September 6th @ Georgetown - 1:00pm ACC: Saturday, September 12th @ Wake - 7:00pm Thursday, September 17th vs Miami - 7:00pm Friday, September 25th vs UNC - 7:00pm Saturday, October 3rd vs Syracuse - 7:00pm Thursday, October 8th @ Notre Dame - 7:00pm Sunday, October 11th @ SMU - 12:00pm Friday, October 16th @ VT - 7:00pm Thursday, October 22nd vs Clemson - 7:00pm Thursday, October 29th vs Louisville - 7:00pm Thursday, November 5th @ Duke - 6:00pm The strong FA25 none-conference opponents did get the Hoos ranked as #1 at a certain stage. Looks like the coming none-conference teams are a bit less strong, but in all honesty I am a bit to far away to properly judge if this is really the case. How do you all feel about this?
That is definitely a step down in non conference strength compared to last fall, by quite a bit imo. Would’ve liked to see the traditional game vs Penn State but not completely surprising as UVA played them twice last season. La Salle and Yale provide no real test for the Hoos, both finishing at #180 or worse in the Massey rankings last season. Surely a somewhat local P4 team such as WVU, Maryland, NC State, or SC could’ve taken one (or both) of their places. Playing all but one non conference games at home provides little opportunity for gaining experience on the road or in a hostile environment. Interesting.
Disappointing to be sure. Of all of the local teams one could play, I do like the JMU matchup. Pity that game isnt away as JMU has a gorgeous little stadium. Sad there is no Penn State or West Virginia on the schedule, because you are right, Rad, their being on the schedule helped propel UVA to the #1 ranking last season. I guess these matchups are just seasonal and likely to be in the works for next year. Last year was just a perfect storm. Though the home v away split for the non-conference games is in keeping in line with Swanson's MO. We could also have played 8 non-con games, but as he has done for the past three years, Swanson has us playing only 7, which I think is fine, especially given this level of competition. Really dont think we need an added George Mason at home.
Just a note on non-conference scheduling that may or may not be relevant to Virginia. I am hearing -- from some coaches -- that a lot of Power 4 teams are dealing with non-conference cost limitations imposed by their athletic departments. This is limiting their ability to enter into home-away agreements (due to away travel costs) and also their ability to make payments to teams traveling to their sites for "one off" home games. Plus, the Big 10 has gone to a 12-game conference schedule, which reduces its teams' availability for non-conference games.