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Virginia matches up with Wake Forest in conference battle Thursday evening

Women's Soccer looks to maintain ACC win streak, hosts inconsistent Demon Deacons

The third-ranked Virginia women’s soccer team needed a break. The Cavaliers (9-0-0, 1-0-0 ACC) had just finished their fourth game in nine days, winning all four while playing without star senior midfielder Morgan Brian. This completed a historic opening to the season which saw the team score 3.5 goals per game — a figure which beats their nation-leading three goals per game in 2013.

And a well-deserved break they received, with four days between ACC matchups heading into Thursday’s game against Wake Forest (3-4-1, 1-0 ACC). Virginia has the opportunity to extend its 16-game ACC regular season winning streak — the fourth longest in conference history and goes back to Oct. 2012.

“The biggest thing is to get back to a good place physically,” coach Steve Swanson said. “We played a lot of games in a short period of time there, so I think making sure we’re rested going into the game [is important].”

This matchup will be quite important for the Cavaliers. They have the opportunity to start 10-0-0 for the second straight year — certainly a good sign for a team which has nine new additions this season and only retained half of its 2013 College Cup starting lineup. But Virginia will have a lot of work to do to maintain the high standards of last season.

“Last year, we knew exactly who we wanted to play and come off the bench because we had a lot of people return with experience,” Brian said. “[This year] we had a lot of new freshmen come in so Steve and the coaching staff are still working on what’s best for us going forward.”

The Cavaliers struggled in preseason exhibitions with continuity, and this has been a point of emphasis for the team as they strive to improve moving into the core of conference play.

“A big thing for us has been putting two halves together,” junior forward Kaili Torres said. “We’ll play our style and our game and we’ll have a good half or a few good minutes so it’s about getting consistent overall and playing our brand of soccer for 90 minutes, not 45, not 30.”

Refining the performance on the field is of utmost importance for Virginia as the stacked ACC schedule heats up. The conference is widely considered the best in the nation, with six teams in the top-25. Three of those are on the Cavaliers’ schedule — No. 5 Florida State, No. 20 Notre Dame and No. 2 Virginia Tech — in addition to matchups against strong Duke and Boston College teams.

“We’ve got to be prepared for more talented offensive players, better athletes, and more sophistication with what teams are trying to break our team down defensively,” Swanson said. “It’s a combination of a lot of factors when you get in conference because the stakes are raised and you’re playing arguably some of the best teams in the country.”

But Virginia’s Thursday opponent, the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest, are likely one of the weaker teams in the ACC. Though the team has given the Cavaliers problems in years past — Wake has taken two out of the last five — this year’s squad is notably young, boasting 16 freshmen and sophomores.

That youth has caused some problems. In the Deacons’ ACC opener against perennial ACC bottom-feeder NC State, they just barely eked out a 1-0 win on an 85th-minute own goal. Conversely, Wake visited reigning NCAA champion No. 1 ranked UCLA earlier this year and played them extremely close, losing just 2-1 while breaking the Bruins’ 772-minute shutout streak. Virginia must be prepared for whichever version of the team shows up this Thursday.

“With our sport, there’s so many different things that can happen,” Swanson said. “There’s a lot of unpredictability.”

This unpredictably, though frustrating for the Cavaliers, is a defining trait of ACC soccer. Though Virginia is riding a 25-game home winning streak, Wake Forest is a solid opponent who has already beaten one ranked opponent, No. 13 Georgetown, this season and is hungry for its first victory against a top-3 team since 2011.

“The biggest difference [between non-conference and ACC play] is that every team we play in the ACC is competitive,” Brian said. “There’s always teams that could be at the bottom of the ACC that could get good results and upsets so for us it’s focusing on each team before we get out on the field.”

Kickoff between the two ACC foes is set for 7 p.m. Thursday night at Klöckner Stadium.

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