For the sixth consecutive year, the Virginia women's soccer team has been ranked among the top three teams in the preseason ACC women's soccer poll. This year, the Cavaliers are ranked third, behind North Carolina and Florida State.
"I care nothing about polls," Virginia coach Steve Swanson said. "This is this year's team, and that is what is exciting from year to year. People might know Virginia from teams in the past, but this is a new team and we have to develop our own identity and make our own history."
While polls have no influence on how Swanson says he feels as his team gears up for its first game of the season this Friday, last week's preseason camp and exhibition games do have Swanson feeling fairly optimistic.
"We will be a very mobile team," Swanson said. "I think we have more speed than in any other year, especially with Jess [Rostedt] coming back. We lost some of that with Shannon [Foley], but if Kristen [Weiss] comes back healthy, I think we could be as athletic a team as we've had."
For the last three years, the Cavaliers have gone away to conduct their preseason camp; this season, for the second year in a row, it was held in Traverse City, Mich. In addition to the favorable northern weather and the restorative powers of Lake Michigan, Swanson finds that removing the girls from the distractions and pressures of Charlottesville allows the team to get more out of its relatively short preseason.
"The weather is perfect, definitely not as humid as here," freshman Catitlin Miskel said. "I think we got more accomplished because we left and I really got to know the team. It was overall a good experience, especially because we got to play two really good teams while we were up there."
During the course of their preseason camp, the Cavaliers played exhibition games against Notre Dame and Michigan State. While the Fighting Irish won their game 3-0, the game against the Spartans ended in a scoreless draw. Although Swanson said he was pleased with how the team performed in both games, he did see his squad struggle to find enough scoring chances.
"Offense is our biggest question mark, especially with the loss of our midfield and the loss of our right and left wingers," Swanson said. "I think we will still be considered a ball possession kind of a team, and that's something we have always prided ourselves on being. The big thing will be though, for all the possession we have, can we create chances?"
Despite existing question marks, the Virginia women have set lofty goals for themselves and for their season.
"The number one goal is always to win a national championship," senior Kristen Weiss said. "All of the ACC is very tough. North Carolina, Duke, Clemson, Florida State -- they are all good competitors and they will all be big games for us, but winning the ACC championship and being No. 1 in our conference is always what we are striving for."
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