Losing only three starters from last season, the No. 16 Virginia women's soccer team seems poised to improve on its third-round exit from the 1999 NCAA Tournament. But things are never so simple.
Not only has a tough schedule left the Cavaliers heading to No. 1 North Carolina tomorrow in only their second game of the season, but Virginia also lost the 1-2 scoring punch of Angela Hucles and Jill Maxwell, two departed seniors who netted over half of the Cav goals last season.
Co-captain Carryn Weigand, a central figure in the Virginia defense, also will be sorely missed. Add in the loss of All-State defender Tammy Westinghouse, who will miss her senior season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, and the Cavaliers (1-0) look thin at both ends of the field.
New Cav coach Steve Swanson said it is still unclear who will emerge up top.
"It's too early to tell where we are really," Swanson said. "I do feel that we have enough players that are capable, it's just a matter of getting chances. We have to keep working at it."
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Borski "is a veteran and I think she's very capable," Swanson said. "She's got two great feet and real strong instincts in the box. I think she's somebody we need to count on. Aly Benitez has done a great job the whole preseason. She's a fighter and a battler and we'll count on her to score some goals."
Freshman forward Sarah Lane led her club team to three straight national titles and has impressed coaches early with her steady play. Swanson said that she "seems very experienced for only being a first year."
With junior midfielder Laura Gaworecki chipping in from the wing, senior midfielder Katie Tracy said the Cav attack will be as potent as ever.
"I have a lot of confidence in our forwards this year, and in the rest of our players to score goals," Tracy said. "Statistically it looks like we lost a lot of our goal scoring from last year, but I think we can come up with goals this year with the players we have."
If past performances are any indication, the Cavaliers have nothing to worry about in the center midfield. Last season, Tracy was named to the all-state first team while fellow co-captain Lori Lindsey was named to the all-region second team.
"Our center midfield with Lori Lindsey and Katie Tracy is very important for us," Swanson said. "I think both are capable of scoring goals and creating things. They're steady. We need them to really help start our attacks. "
Tracy and Lindsey will be aided on the wing by Gaworecki and freshman Erin Englehardt, a two-time high school All-American who notched a goal in her college debut against the Tribe.
Perhaps the Cavaliers' most glaring weakness is defense. After Westinghouse tore her ACL with two weeks to go in the spring season, the Cavs not only lost an all-state defender but also the presence of a senior leader.
Losing Westinghouse "was difficult," Swanson said. "Anytime you lose experience and that kind of talent in the back, you're faced with a challenge right away."
Unsure of how the defense will fit together, Swanson plans to experiment with a variety of combinations in back. Junior Ashley Meeker and sophomore Brooke Stastny return as the starting outside backs and sophomores Meredith Rhodes and Kelly Worden have been moved from the midfield to central defense. The revamped defense impressed against the Tribe Saturday, conceding only four shots.
"We're really young in the back right now, so we're still working out some of the kinks," Tracy said. "But [the defenders] - even the freshmen this year - have been playing well."
In goal, with senior incumbent Julie Harris recovering from a pair of May back surgeries, freshman Jodi Clugston will shoulder the bulk of the work, at least for now. With international experience playing in the under-18 U.S. national team program, Clugston quickly impressed both her coaches and fellow players with a shutout in her college debut against William and Mary.
Virginia has a tough schedule this year, facing 11 of the Top 25 teams, including six in the top 10. Perhaps the Cavaliers' biggest challenge will come tomorrow when the team travels to North Carolina to play the top-ranked Tar Heels, kicking off the ACC season. Virginia has lost each of its 28 meetings with UNC.
"I'm looking forward to it," Lindsey said. "Whether it's now or sometime down the road, we've got to be ready. I'm excited. I'm ready to go out there and win"
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