This Saturday's football game marks the University's official homecoming weekend. For the Virginia women's soccer team, however, it was last weekend that marked a much-anticipated homecoming of a different sort -- the return of two key sophomores, Jess Rostdet and Nikki Krzysik.
Returning to Charlottesville after a nine-month stint with the U-20 national team, Rostdet and Krzysik took the field Friday night as the Cavaliers took on the Georgia Bulldogs. In the ninth minute of that game, Rostdet scored her first goal of the 2006 season and made sure everyone in the stands at Klöckner knew she was back.
Rostdet and Krzysik began training with the U-20 national team last January. Both girls were members of the 2004 U-20 national team when the biannual World Championships were held in Thailand and were eager to have another opportunity to play internationally. In order to participate in the team's intensive training schedule, they took last spring semester off from school.
"We went seven days at a camp followed by six days off, then another seven days at a camp, and so on," Krzysik said. "They were held in California, Texas, Portland and our foreign trips included Mexico, Brazil, Germany and Finland."
In the international matches and collegiate exhibition games that the U-20 team played in the spring, Rostdet tallied 20 goals to lead the team in scoring. In addition to the games, the team's bi-weekly camp schedule continued until the World Championships began Aug. 17 in Russia. There, the U-20 team advanced to the semifinals but lost to China 5-4 in sudden-death penalty kicks.
"International soccer is such a good experience," Krzysik said. "There are players from all D-I schools in the United States and then you pick up things from the international players, all of which allows you to become a more complete soccer player."
Having already played 75-80 games this year, Rostedt and Krzysik are starting the season on anything but fresh legs. Hopefully, however, the experience they've gained will outweigh any fatigue they feel.
"For them, this is the end of a very long and tiring year," Swanson said. "But for us, it is just the beginning of the season and so we are asking them to do a lot."
Earlier this season, Virginia coach Steve Swanson admitted he was slightly apprehensive about how the team would adjust when Rostdet and Krzysik were re-introduced into the lineup. While Friday night's win quelled some of that uneasiness, Sunday's defeat at the hands of Seton Hall reminded Swanson and the entire squad that a period of adjustment is unavoidable.
"We cannot expect miracles of them, although I do think they give us a big lift," Swanson said. "The reality is that we are going to need time to work these guys back in and to get to a level of playing where we are all on the same page."
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