Sure, if I was good enough to play for my country when I was 19, I would have jumped at the chance. And since most creative ventures are furthered by increasing the variety of experiences, I'm sure that from a development standpoint, it's good for the women to go. But I am a Virginia fan and I care more about the team than the players. While they are gone, Virginia is going to play Tennessee, Georgetown, Wake and UNC. Virginia has missed two of the last three ACC tournaments. I'm not so sure this team can wait til mid October to gel for a strong postseason run.
Other teams seem to miss these players and still qualify for the ACC tournament. Seems like a UVA issue. If they don't like it they could always recruit non national team players?
They’ll fair better with the national team absences this fall, they’ve got more depth this season imo.
Now, I will never understand the US obsession with sport rankings, but am curious to hear from you what you think of the NCAA pre season ranking. Does #11 feel ok? And what about the other ACC teams?
I am a UVA fan. To me, the players are a key part of that. As far as missing tournaments, that is the new normal. UVA’s main attraction was a coaching staff that teaches players to become better over time. Not sure that plays like it used to in this NIL world. Improvement takes time and commitment to the process. Kids want instant exposure now.
#11 feels about right to me to begin the season, leaves plenty of room to rise as the team progresses.
Virginia kicks off the 2026 season tonight with an exhibition match vs Maryland at Klockner, 7pm ET. All home games this season are once again free and do not require a ticket for attendance. Would love some insight from anyone that makes it to the game. Go Hoos!
I'm going to Saturday's game. Dont really want to. Exhibition games are, well, exhibitions. Practice, in other words. But if Swanson is abandoning his 4 3 3 for the first time since I've been watching, I need to know who's playing where.
Will be visiting the Liberty and La Salle games. Curious to see if any changes to the 4-3-3 system are being made.
with UEFA boycotting all FIFA tournaments, the first one to be held will be WWC U20 in Poland coming September. No countries under UEFA will participate, England, France, Portugal, Spain, Italy and organizing country Poland. It’s uncertain what it means for the organization of the tournament.
You can see four of the goals on the women's Facebook page. (Not on twitter. Man, Virginia's social media game is so lame...) Facebook 1st impression (based on 40 secs of highlights): ye gods, that is some shambolic defending and high school-level goalkeeping by Maryland. 2nd impression: Helen Olszewski, a sophomore with some speed, but who red-shirted last year, was on the pitch, and playing early. (If the highlight are sequential.)
Even after practicing it in the spring, I’m a little surprised that Swanson went ahead with the formation shift to a 5-3-2, we shall see how the team does with it. Virginia desperately needs some speed, especially along the backline. I wonder if Swanson is planning on playing Olszewski as one of the wingbacks, with Rademaker as the other. Saturday’s match against the Power should give us a bit more insight than this one.
Yes. The Hoos are not great at the social media game. Players want this now. Another thing they have to overcome when recruiting. The goals were pretty poor. Maryland looked awfully poor. ♂️
It’s another exhibition game day for the Hoos as they take on the DC Power at Klockner at 8pm ET. Should be a much better game to gauge where the team is at before the first real game of the season on Wednesday.
Virginia tied the DC Power on the back of a powerful equalizing header (off a corner) by Pearl Cecil. It was good to welcome back Claire Constant who played the entire 90 for the Power. (It was unusual in that UVa subbed according to collegiate rules while the Power subbed according to professional rules.) In general, the Power were the quicker team and countered faster at every opportunity. I attribute this to them just all being fully mature women. The game opened with the unhappy sight of a UVa player, sitting on the bench, foot iced and elevated, with a boot and a scooter. Honestly, you all know who it is, right? Who else but Jill Flammia, who clearly doesn't possess a body built for P4 play. She has red shirted an entire season and missed a third of her other games. So, the starting lineup. I will be frank, I don't know the difference between a 3-5-2 and a 5-3-2 but we are definitely playing with a central three and two wing backs playing very high. I don't know what Steve is going to call the formation, but honestly, it looked like a 5 - 2 - 2 - 1. Caneli started up top, Allie Ross and Addy Halpern were the two attacking mids while Ella Carter and Jordyn Hardeman played a double pivot in front of the back line. The back line starters were Liv Rademaker, Tatum Galvin, Pearl Cecil, Faith Broering, and Carrie Helfrich. Vicki Safradin started in goal. Rademaker and Cecil were the most noticeable players along the back line. First off, Rademaker is VERY high up. She's not just providing width, she's replaced the traditional Swanson winger. She looked fabulouis. She's going to get several 1v1s with the keeper this year. I understand she struggled a bit with fitness last year, often being the first member of the back line subbed off, usually in the 30th minute of each quarter. She was closer to 37-38 minutes each half. You can see the talent that Cecil brings. She was spraying gorgeous wide balls out to Rademaker, Helfrich (and Kyra Koopman, who replaced Helfrich.) Great changing the angle of attack. A real weapon. But.... she's going to give me a heart attack if she remains at the center of the back three. She invites pressure from the opposing team, and while she turns wonderfully, she's going to get her pocket picked. Multiple times this season. I noted to my wife that I thought she'd be better in the double pivot with Carter, and lo and behold, Swanson gave her the last 20 minutes as the 6. As for Koopman, it was a double Dutch treat as Koop and Rademaker provided, until the Cecil goal, the best highlights of the game. Koop doesn't have Liv's speed but her interplay with her teammates in the final 20 yards is better than Liv's. Koop had three screaming crosses. She'll be replacing Helfrich in the starting lineup soon. Based on this game, Halpern is NOT playing striker. Which to me is good, because she can't finish. In this game, she moved liberally across the two pairs of pairings. She's an attacking mid to be sure, but not a forward. Canali didn't impress. She had maybe only two touches of any import and she misplayed one of those two. I was impressed with her on ball defense as a forward. She's going to pick someone's pockets this fall. But she was mostly anonymous. The striker who got fans out of their seats was no less than Aniyah Collier, who is returning after missing two seasons in a row. Let's just say the speed is still there. I really want to like Sophia Bradley, but I don't think she's got it in here. I'm hoping, again after just one game, that Collier becomes the first forward off the bench. Other notes: Reese Mattern played sparingly, but came in late in game at right back. Virginia "won" the last five minutes of the game and Mattern was part of that. Faith Broering looked ok. But what was most exciting is how well freshman Mackenzie Mize. She's a keeper. Speaking of keepers, the team's second keeper is Wicki Dunlap, and she had two extremely fine saves. She looked good. I was watching Molly Carlson, I guess our third string keeper, during warmups, and she was stroking some lovely corners. Kind of like watching the team trainer connect on10 straight threes. This team still can't press. Though they were trying a little harder it seems. Helen Olszewski, who apparently got into Wednesday's game early enough on, was nowhere to be seen today. She definitely didn't play and I just don't recognize her enough to pick her out of the team. Biggest takeaway: Pearl Cecil is ready to take over this team, make it hers. But she's going to be gone for a month. But she's a sophomore playing in a back line that features fifth year Tatum Galvin, fifth year Faith Broering, and third year Reese Mattern. It's going to take a while for a second year to assume the leadership of such a senior crew. Time that Cecil will lose a lot of playing away at the WC. Again, after one game, I think this will be the story line of the season. How does the team respond to Cecil's presence and absence.
Great analysis, Val. That goal by Pearl Cecil off the service from Koopman was awesome. Interesting to see how Swanson has laid out his new formation, especially with Halpern in the midfield instead of up top. Bummer for Flammia (once again) as she had a great summer with the Richmond Ivy, but soooo happy to see Collier fit and healthy!!
Great match review and analyses Val, thks! Power was the better organized team, playing in a more structured way, player finding each other more easily. What did you think of the change in formation, and how do you rate the team vs previous years?
I've only been watching Virginia for the past decade thanks to the ACC Network. Swanson has used other formations in the past, but since I've been watching, he has rolled out a very vanilla 4-3-3 with the wingers extremely wide, as well as the outside midfielders. Klockner is one of the wider fields in the ACC. I'm all for using a formation that suits the players, so change is good, because Virginia had gotten a bit stale. But if you're going to play 5-3-1 / 3-5-1 then that puts a premiem on wingbacks. Now, Liv scored v Maryland and had the best shot of the game vs the Power. She looks very comfortable curling in on her right foot as an inverted winger. If Koopman can get acclimated and provide a similar threat on the right, Virginia should be fine. The issue is who fills in when Rademaker and Koop sit. Tatum Galvin isn't much of a threat on the left, and we'll have to see how Carrie Helfrich does on the right. Want to see how Mattern does as the season progresses. She didn't play much, but the Hoos did have their best 10-minute stretch when she was on the pitch and we attacked more down the right than we did down the left whilst she was on. I guess the biggest comparison vis a vis recent incarnations of Virginia is where are the goals going to come from? There was a five year stretch 5 - 9 years ago where Virginia had at least one 15-goal scorer each year. We were much better then. The past four years or so have been more precarious. It's nice when a Maggie Cagle or a Lia Godfrey can hit for 6 - 8 goals a season, but when they are your leading scorers, something is broke. Seems like we're going to be asking a lot of Canali this season. If she's a four or five goal scorer this year, we're as likely as not to miss the ACC tournament and be a first-weekend exit from the NCAA tournament.
Agree with the summary. Great info. Jill did have a nice summer with Ivy but did get injured in, IIRC, the final home game. Was a lower leg injury so looks like it carried over into the start of the season. That's unfortunate as others have said since it just seems like she's been bit by multiple different injuries. Will try to make it out to Charlottesville for some games - had the Tennessee game circled but will be out of town. UNC looks like one for me to attend in late September.
One day before the official season kicks off against Northwestern. What can we expect from last years Big Ten no 8? Seeing it's being broadcasted by ACCNX, figuring out how to watch this.
Where are you seeing that the game is on ACCN Extra? I'm not surprised it's on, but the Virginia website hasn't been updated yet.
https://virginiasports.com/news/2026/08/11/skys-the-limit-for-uva-second-year Great article about Addy Halpern and her taking a larger role in the team this season.
My preview: Virginia Women's Soccer 2026 Season Preview The Outlook There are two story lines for the Cavaliers this season. The first revolves around Pearl Cecil. She is an audacious talent, and for all of the accolades that Addison Halpern rode into Charlottesville on, Pearl may be the best player on this team. I think she’s ready to make this team hers, and I think she has the dog in her. But she’s a sophomore, playing in the back, alongside fifth-years Tatum Galvin and Faith Broering. For good measure, transfer Reese Mattern who lined up at right back for Virginia’s best 10 minutes vs the Power, is third year. Pearl can lead this backline, and she could lead this team, excepting that she will be gone for a month. She is most likely going to miss Tennessee, Georgetown, Wake Forest and UNC. Mackenzie Mize looks like a keeper in the back line, but the prerequisite for a great season, as I see it, is the development of Cecil into a force at the back. And that will take time. Time that she’s losing a month of this year. The second through line, and one that I feel more comfortable about as we head into the season, is the continued growth of Addison Halpern, as a midfielder. Swanson has gone on record as saying she has the talent of Morgan Brien, a two-time MAC Hermann trophy winner. I’ve never seen Swanson say that about anybody, from Phoebe McLernon to Alexa Spaanstra to Lia Godfrey. I’ll trust Swanson to be a better judge of talent than myself, but I think that implies that he’s focused on playing Halpern in midfield and not as an emergency fill-in for Canali at forward. Against the Power, Halpern slotted all across both pairs of pairings. Plus, there is the loss of Flammia to consider. With Jill’s absence, there are just fewer available attacking midfielders. How well Halpern settles into this role will go a long way towards determining Virginia’s success on the pitch.