After a strong weekend, the No. 10 Cavaliers look to carry some momentum into tonight's game against William & Mary. After using a strong second half to put away VCU 3-1 Friday, Virginia scored early and used a timely second-half goal by Mia Link to defeat No. 4 North Carolina 2-1. The win against UNC marks Virginia's first ACC win since 2001 and brings the Cavaliers to 7-1 on the year.
"I think that the fans, coaches and alumni are really proud of the players," Virginia coach Michele Madison said. "The team is back in terms of anything being possible."
The win was a bit of a validation for the Cavaliers, especially for players who had suffered through a mediocre season last year. Beating a highly-ranked Tar Heel team shows that Virginia has greatly improved.
"Coming into this fall we are a different team," Link said. "We weren't just coming in to the season waiting to see if were might be better than last year or if the ACC would be worse."
Several Cavaliers contributed to the win this weekend. Junior Abby Taylor had an assist in the game against VCU, and freshman Traci Ragukas scored a goal in each of Virginia's two games. The Cavaliers had been getting consistent production out of seniors Link, Biffy Cornelison and sophomore Inge Sijpesteijn including a combined three goals and one assist over the weekend.
The Cavaliers hope to build on the strong performance against UNC in tonight's game against No. 17 William and Mary. The Cavaliers are hoping to avoid a letdown after the emotional win against North Carolina. It will, however, help Virginia focus knowing that a win over William & Mary will give the Cavaliers their third win over a ranked opponent this year.
"William & Mary will be tough," Madison said. "They've been playing really well and just had a good win against Richmond. We're going to have to be on our game on Wednesday."
If Virginia hopes to shut down the Tribe, they will have to stop William & Mary's potent offense. The Tribe is led by senior forward Gina Cimarelli, who leads the CAA with four game-winning goals. Virginia's goalie, Kat Blair, will be counted on to stop Cimarelli and the rest of the Tribe.
One of the keys to the game will be short corners. One of Virginia's strengths so far this year has been penalty corners, where they are 14-49. However, William & Mary has only given up 35 short corners so far in their first seven games. The other key will be goaltending. Virginia's high-scoring offense will go up against William & Mary junior goalie Gwen Hunter, who has a goals-against average of 1.23 so far this year and has recorded three shutouts.
While Virginia has been playing well lately, fatigue may play a factor in tonight's game. After such an emotional win over a team like North Carolina, some Cavaliers may still be celebrating their victory. Also, Virginia is playing their third game in six days and faces a William & Mary team that has only played once in the past week. If the Cavaliers hope to score a win against the Tribe, Madison will obviously have to find a way to keep her players fresh. The momentum that Virginia has built over the weekend will be useless if Virginia is too tired to capitalize.
"I think the coaching staff will rotate players in and out," Link said. "We're lucky to have the depth to be able to do that.
Virginia will need to win or at least turn in strong performances in the next several contests to maintain momentum going forward through the remainder of a grinding ACC schedule.
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