The Virginia women's soccer team will close out its regular season schedule tonight with a 7 p.m. matchup against conference rival Wake Forest at Klockner Stadium.
In the Cavaliers' last game, which was Sunday afternoon, they pulled off a dramatic come-from-behind victory over Florida State.
The Cavaliers wasted little time taking the lead in the game. In her first start of the season, junior midfielder Meredith Rhodes netted her second goal of the season two minutes into the contest.
Florida State answered back with two goals, but midway through the second half the Cavaliers tied the game with a goal by sophomore midfielder Erin Engelhardt.
Then with a little over a minute left, Virginia grabbed the win as senior co-captain Laura Gaworecki set up freshman midfielder Taylor Wood for her first career goal.
"Laura did all the work," Wood said. "I was running into the box and she crossed it to me and I just put it in."
This season, the Cavaliers have enjoyed playing in the friendly confines of Klockner, compiling an overall 7-2 home record this season. More than 1,000 fans filled the stands in each of Virginia's last two games to see the Cavaliers take on North Carolina and Florida State.
"I think the support has been instrumental to our success," Swanson said of the Klockner crowds. "I don't think we could have won without them. I hope we can get a similar crowd for our game against Wake Forest."
After a busy week last week with two tough ACC matches in a row, Virginia has been able to use the time off since Sunday to enjoy some much-needed rest.
"We're rested, ready and fired up," Swanson said of his team. "To play two games in that short amount of time last week was tough. Being able to have time to rest and recuperate will help us in this game tomorrow and going into the ACCs."
The well-rested Cavaliers look to pick up a key conference victory tonight as they take on an aggressive Demon Deacon squad at Klockner.
"It's not going to be an easy game," Swanson said. "They play very physical. Every time we've played them it's been difficult."
Wake Forest heads into Charlottesville on the heels of a 6-0 blanking against Liberty. In the victory, six different players scored for the Demon Deacons. Wake Forest has beaten Virginia the last two times the two schools have met.
The Cavaliers look to reverse recent history tonight in a game that looms large for Virginia's seeding in the ACC standings. Virginia currently is second in the ACC, two games behind undefeated, top-ranked North Carolina and one ahead in the loss column of Clemson.
"If we win this game we'll achieve one of our goals for the season," Wood said. "We set out to get second place in the ACC and if we win we'll have a pretty good chance of doing that"
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