Tonight at 7 p.m., the Virginia women's soccer team will face No. 2 Clemson at Klockner Stadium. The No. 14 Cavaliers are coming off a weekend split in two games at the Virginia Soccer Classic.
The Cavs were ranked No. 13 before being upset by unranked Florida, 3-2, Sunday. They opened the tournament Friday night with a 4-1 win over George Mason. Star center mid Lori Lindsey moved up to 10th place on the Virginia career goals list and earned a spot on the All-Tournament team alongside wing midfielder Laura Gaworecki and defender Kelly Worden.
"We played well for about three halves" over the weekend, senior center midfielder Katie Tracy said. "We obviously weren't there in the first half against Florida, and we can't let that happen again."
The Cavaliers (5-4, 1-1 ACC) will try to avenge a pair of losses last year. Clemson won at home in the regular season, 1-0, and then dealt Virginia a spirit-crushing 3-1 loss in the first round of the ACC Tournament.
"They've knocked us out of the ACC Tournament all three times [since I've been here], and they beat us in the spring, so with that in the back of our minds, I think we'll be pretty ready to go," Tracy said. "There's a lot of incentives."
Clemson is off to a 10-0 start (2-0 ACC), including an upset of then-No. 1 North Carolina Sept. 13. This is the best start ever for the Tigers.
Freshman forward Lindsay Browne was named ACC Player of the Week and made the Clemson Invitational tournament team, as she tallied a goal and three assists over the weekend in Tiger victories over UNC-Asheville and Furman in the tourney.
Other Tigers named to the all-tournament team were sophomore Deliah Arrington and senior twins Julie and Nancy Austyniak.
Clemson also has been helped by the play of goalkeeper Katie Carson.
Virginia coach Steve Swanson looks at this game as one in which the Cavaliers will have a chance to test themselves.
"We look at this as a real opportunity to continue our improvement," Swanson said. "We're looking to solidify ourselves as a team that's going to make some noise at the end [of the year]. We're looking forward to this game."
But the Cavs know they face a challenge tonight.
"Clemson is certainly coming in with confidence," Swanson said. "They're an athletic team, they're a mobile team. It'll be a test for us. We have a lot of respect for Clemson, but we don't fear Clemson"
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