The Virginia women’s soccer team hopes to take down Wake Forest tonight in its second matchup against the Demon Deacons this week. Just this past Sunday, Virginia met Wake at Klöckner Stadium for its last regular-season game. The contest ended in a 1-0 Wake victory, sending the Cavaliers into this year’s ACC Tournament with a 12-4-2 record (6-3-1 ACC). Virginia hopes to make up for this loss as it enters the first round of the tournament tonight in Cary, N.C.
Virginia’s season has been successful as far as wins go, but because of the team’s recent loss to Wake (12-6, 5-5 ACC), the Cavaliers need to concentrate on being physically and mentally prepared to avoid making potentially game-determining mistakes.
“This part of the season you’ve got to be careful,” Virginia coach Steve Swanson said. “We might have to push back a little bit just to make sure we are fresh going into Wednesday — fresh mentally — so that we can make the right decisions and we can make the right reads. I think that’s what I’m noticing on the field more than anything.”
If Virginia succeeds in making the right decisions and uses opportunities well, the Cavaliers could make considerable advances in tournament play. Though ACC women’s soccer teams are known to be strong competitors, Virginia ranks among the strongest, sitting at third behind North Carolina and Florida State.
“Obviously the ACC is and always has been a strong conference, and anyone can beat anyone on any day,” senior goalkeeper Celeste Miles said. “I think that [having played] all the teams, we should have confidence in ourselves that we can hang with anyone and that when it comes down to it, it’s the ACC Tournament — everyone’s going to want it badly, and we are going to have to bounce back from the last few tough games.”
Virginia has only lost four games overall this season, three of which came against conference teams. The Cavaliers experienced their first conference defeat of the season Oct. 9 against Virginia Tech when they fell 1-0 in Blacksburg. Virginia Tech is entering the ACC Tournament seeded seventh with a record of 10-7-2 (4-4-2 ACC). The Hokies have had a solid season, landing by the median in conference rankings; it remains to be seen how they will react to top-tier teams such as North Carolina.
North Carolina (16-1-2, 9-0-1 ACC) likely will prove to be the toughest competition for all of the ACC’s women’s teams as it tops the pile at No. 1. The Virginia women suffered their biggest loss to Carolina Oct. 24, scoring only one goal to the Tar Heels’ five.
Virginia’s game against Duke Oct. 30 made it clear that the Blue Devils (12-4-3, 4-3-3 ACC) will also be a team that could provide some surprises in the upcoming tournament. Duke, fifth in the ACC, held the Cavaliers to a 0-0 score in double overtime play, showing off the Blue Devils’ persistency and hustle, team characteristics that play critical roles during tournament season.
“You have to look out for all of [the teams],” Wake Forest coach Tony da Luz said. “Everybody has been so tough. We had to work our way back to 5-5 in the league. Virginia Tech Thursday night was absolutely on fire, it was a really tough game. This tournament — there may be a couple upsets. It’s going to be an interesting tournament.”
With each team in such close competition, accurate predictions are nearly impossible. Though Wake Forest won last weekend’s game, the Demon Deacons are going into the match this evening as if Virginia is a team of completely unpredictable challengers.
“I don’t think [Sunday’s win] will change our mentality,” da Luz said. “Right now we are going into the knockout phase — you lose, you’re out. You just got to get results and try to stay organized and minimize [Virginia’s] chances.”
The tournament consists of three single-elimination games, making every aspect of play that much more pivotal. Eight teams are in the tournament, including No. 2-seed Florida State and No. 4-seed Boston College, both of which the Cavaliers defeated earlier this season.
“We’ve just got to get ready,” Swanson said. “It’s a long haul. If you plan on winning you’ve got to get ready for the long haul — mentally and physically — and that’s something we need to do.”
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