Virginia's fifth-ranked women's soccer team returns to Kl?kner Stadium on tomorrow night for its ACC home opener against Florida State.
The Cavaliers (8-1-1, 1-0 ACC) have had an impressive start this year. Since the start of the season, the team has won the Virginia Soccer Classic with victories over nationally-ranked Santa Clara and Southern California, and the Dartmouth Adidas/Hypertherm Tournament by beating the host and Harvard.
The team defeated Richmond, 2-1,Monday on the road. Coach Steven Swanson was gratified by his team's resilience after falling behind early in the game.
"I was more pleased with the way we responded, when we went down, came back and scored a goal pretty quickly and then we got the goal to go ahead at the end of the first half," Swanson said."I think that was the thing that impressed me the most. It was tough to give up that goal at that time to a team like Richmond on the road, but I was most impressed with how we came back from that."
The game-winning goal was scored by sophomore midfielder Kelly Hammond, who, for the second time in three weeks, was named to the Soccer America Team of the Week. This award was also in recognition of her performance in Virginia's 7-0 rout of NC State last Friday, in which Hammond scored two goals and added an assist. Hammond leads the Cavaliers with seven goals on the season, five of which are game-winners.
Another reason for the team's early-season success is the play of junior forward Lindsay Gusick. After being named to the All-ACC team during her freshman year with 17 goals and 37 points, the second-highest single-season point total in school history, expectations were sky-high for Gusick's sophomore campaign. Injuries hampered her year, however, and she only managed to total four goals and four assists.
Despite her disappointment with last season's performance, Gusick insists she is not pressing on offense.
"I don't really feel pressure," Gusick said. "I wanted to do as well as I did my first year, but I don't think that was my main thing. I talked to Steve [Swanson], and he just said to concentrate on the little things?- do whatever you can to help the team.If I get goals, that's great. But I want to do other things as well, so there's not really that much pressure" to score goals.
Gusick has rebounded so far this season with five goals and five assists in 10 games, which makes her the second-leading scorer on the team, behind Hammond.
Swanson and his team are looking forward to returning to Kl?kner after a four-game road trip that took the Cavaliers to Hanover, N.H., Raleigh, N.C. and then on to Richmond. Virginia, however, is wary of the challenges ahead.
"We're very excited to be home again -- it's been a really long time," Swanson said. "It's a big game for us on Saturday. We're anxious to get back home and we're looking forward to that."
As Virginia begins the heart of its ACC schedule with the Seminoles coming to town, its No. 5 ranking will be put to the test.
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