The Virginia women's soccer team is looking to extend its win streak against N.C. State tonight at 7 at Klöckner Stadium. Over the past four seasons, Virginia has gone unbeaten versus N.C. State on the road and at home.
The Cavaliers (9-5-2, 2-3 ACC) are hoping to use their potent offense and gain their tenth win of the season and even their ACC mark by defeating the Wolfpack (9-6-1, 2-3-1 ACC).
Senior forward Darci Borksi, the current ACC women's soccer player of the week, will try to add to her 27 career goals tonight while playing her final game at Klöckner. In last Saturday's game against No. 14 Wake Forest, Borski scored the only two goals of the game giving the Cavaliers their first win versus a ranked opponent this year.
"The win against Wake was really big for us because it gives us some confidence going into the N.C. State game," she said.
She knows the importance of playing well against ranked teams such as UNC and Wake Forest and said she realizes how that can affect a team.
"Getting a win last week and playing well against UNC helps our confidence in these last two games as well as the ACC tournament," she said.
Virginia coach Steve Swanson recognizes the important role Borski has played in the Cavalier offense over the past few games. In the last two games, she has scored three goals.
"We rely on her to score," Swanson said, knowing that the Cavaliers "struggled with scoring goals in the beginning."
The Virginia offense has finally reached its stride over the last several games but the defense cannot be overlooked. In the last three games, two against ranked opponents, the Cavalier defense only surrendered two goals.
"The team is playing well on both sides of the ball," Swanson said, adding that the team "defends as a team and attacks as a team."
Virginia only has four seniors on the roster this year, but their presence has proved invaluable to the team.
"They really set the tone," Swanson said.
Indeed, the Cavaliers are a fairly new and young team this season after losing several key seniors last year. The leadership that the seniors have provided this year has bettered the women's soccer program for the future -- the team finally is working as one unit on the field and regaining its winning form of last season.
"We lost a lot of great players last year and at first it was a little difficult being so new and young, but the young players and returners are all coming together and playing really well as a team," Borksi said.
The Cavaliers refuse to look past N.C. State and plan to put all their efforts into stopping the Pack tonight.
"The conference is still wide open and we're right back in it," Swanson said. "We want to continue making a statement."
Virginia is looking to finish out the season strong by winning its final two games against N.C. State tonight and Florida State Saturday. Two wins would make their ACC record 4-3 and give them momentum going into the ACC tournament.
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