The Stanford and Hartford women's soccer teams will be at Klockner Stadium this weekend for the Coca-Classic tournament, but it still remains to be seen which Virginia squad will show up.
Will it be the Cavs who have risen to No. 15 in the nation and bumped their record to 4-2-0 (2-0-0 ACC) with three straight wins, including a pair of Conference victories last weekend in North Carolina? Or will the early-season Cavaliers resurface, the team that inexplicably swallowed losses at the hands of unranked Oregon State and James Madison?
Considering the superlative quality of their opponents, all signs point to an appearance by a charged-up Virginia team. The Cavs have shown an often frustrating penchant for relaxing against lesser foes, but against No. 8 Stanford (4-2-0) and No. 5 Hartford (5-0-0), intensity should not be a problem.
"We tend to do better against the better teams," fifth-year forward Jill Maxwell said.
However, the Cavaliers can't speculate on their chances in the tournament, since they know basically nothing about the two teams they will be facing.
"Stanford and Hartford are two teams we've never played before," forward Angela Hucles said. "We've never seen what they've done. It'll be interesting to see how we'll match up with those teams."
The Cardinal is a Pac-10 title contender led by senior defender Ronnie Fair. The California native might not be as well known as her twin sister Lorrie, who won the Women's World Cup with the United States this summer, but she is an All-American talent in her own right.
Fair and her Cardinal teammates will try to stop a Cavalier offense that has seen 11 players etch their names on the points list.
The Hawks have beaten the only ranked team they have played, No. 13 Boston College, and have generally steamrolled through their conference.
"It's going to be a tough tournament - we're ranked the lowest of all four teams," including No. 10 Richmond, who will participate in the tournament but not play Virginia, Maxwell said.
But as recent Virginia history has shown, maybe these highly ranked opponents are just what the Cavaliers need to keep their focus.
Read More
Live tracker: the 2025 spring football transfer window
By Xander Tilock , Ben McNiff and Ryan Weiner | 7 hours agoVirginia football can add more talent through the portal.
Virginia men’s golf makes program history in stroke play at ACC Championship
By Casey Reims | 7 hours agoVirginia won the stroke play for the first time ever.
In overtime, and with everything on the line, men’s lacrosse falls to No. 9 Duke
By Michael Liebermann | 16 hours ago“I really do,” Tiffany said. “I think we did play our best lacrosse today.”
