In a conference where only two points separate the second seed from the seventh, the Virginia women's soccer team expects every round of the ACC Tournament to be a dogfight. Tonight, as they seek to reclaim their 2004 ACC title, the Cavaliers will take on Wake Forest's third-seeded Demon Deacons in the quarterfinals.
"Whenever you are trying to win an ACC championship it's a long road to the final," Virginia coach Steve Swanson said. "You know you are going to have to play good teams right away. The fact that we have a very deep conference and the fact that only eight teams get to go means tough games from the beginning."
The Cavaliers and Demon Deacons will face off at 8 p.m. in Cary, North Carolina. While the noon, 2:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. time slots were given to first-seeded North Carolina, fourth-seeded Boston College and second-seeded Florida State respectively, Virginia is unconcerned with their late starting time. In fact, Virginia posts a higher winning percentage for night games.
"I think the late game is to our advantage," sophomore forward Jess Rostedt said. "The atmosphere under the lights -- they just give us energy."
That said, the amount of rest between the quarterfinal and semifinal games will be less for the winner of tomorrow night's match than for any other team. Furthermore, playing early in the day gives the winners of those games the opportunity to scout the competition, whereas the Cavaliers and Demon Deacons must maintain focus on their upcoming match all day today. Nevertheless, Swanson agrees with Rostedt's sentiments and believes the night game has its own advantages.
"I think there is excitement at night," Swanson said. "And there is definitely the chance for a better crowd than at a noon or 2:30 game on a weekday."
Virginia received the tournament's sixth seed following last Saturday's 3-2 overtime win against North Carolina State. Rostedt had two of those three goals, including the game-winning golden goal in the 95th minute. Following that performance, which included her fourth game-winning goal of the season, Rostedt was named ACC Player of the Week for the second time this season and the third time in her career.
Swanson believes that in close matches and tournament situations, it is often the little things, such as set pieces, penalty kicks and individual defending, that make the difference between a good result and a bad one. Therefore, practices this week have been a balancing act as the team fine-tunes their game while trying to stay rested.
"We've been working on moving the ball, our decision making and our passing," senior forward Kristen Weiss said. "Also, we definitely practiced our penalty kicks towards the end of the season and all through the postseason."
As the team travels to North Carolina, hopes are high that after a season of ups and downs, everything will come together at SAS Soccer Park.
"The season is really 0-0 now because as we go on to the tournament, you can throw season records out the window," Swanson said. "Our schedule tested us, and we've learned a lot about ourselves and improved greatly since the start of the year. Now we are trying to put that altogether and to peak at the right time, which is Wednesday."
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