The Cavaliers hope to find their scoring touch when they play No. 17 Boston College today. Virginia will also play No. 2 Duke Sunday.
The games are the last of the regular season for Virginia (9-8, 0-4 ACC) before the ACC tournament begins. Boston College (12-5) is coming off a 5-3 win over New Hampshire and Virginia is wary of the Eagles' attacking potential.
"We're focused on playing Boston College and on how they move their ball," senior forward Katie Nicholson said. "We need to defend better against them. Boston College has been known to be an aggressive, feisty team, so since we are playing them here we have to take it to them. A win today will also help us into Sunday's big game."
The Cavaliers haven't had that much luck in the ACC this season, losing all four games. Duke (15-2, 1-2) will offer one more opportunity for Virginia to grab its first ACC win after losing 5-1 to No. 1 Wake Forest last weekend.
Katie Nicholson said lack of focus in the later stages of the match against Wake caused the heavy loss.
"The first half looked really good but we had a lack of focus at the last minute," she said. "We need to string everything together and keep focused for this game."
In both contests, Virginia's defense will be severely tested as both opposing teams are coming off of victories. The Blue Devils have the number one ranked offense in the country and look to obtain the third seed for next week's tournament with a win.
Junior goalkeeper Logan Carr said defense is the key in this weekend's mathcups.
"Boston College is a strong opponent; they're a ranked team," she said. "We could really use beating a ranked team right now. We're going to try to use things that we didn't do as well with against Wake. We've being working on individual defense."
Logan also said recent exposure to top quality teams like Wake has caused the team to improve.
"By playing against that elite level we have become a better team," she said. "We're focused on stepping up the play and will have to concentrate on ball movement and working off one another." The Eagles and the Blue Devils will provide the best opportunity for Virginia to gauge how well they have improved over the past couple of games. It will also be a litmus test for the Cavaliers' chances at the ACC tournament on Nov. 6-9 which Virginia will host.
A win against Duke over the weekend will ensure that the Cavaliers play the Blue Devils again in the first game of the tournament.
Defense and offense aside, crowd support will be crucial in determining if Virginia comes through this tough weekend unscathed and Nicholson said crowd attendance this weekend "should help us out."
Read More
'The Måns Dahlberg show' is kicking into gear, just in time for Virginia’s title chase
By Thomas Baxter | 16 hours agoHe's one man during the first few months of the season, quite another in the final two.
TILOCK: The real Virginia baseball just stood up
By Xander Tilock | 2 days agoThe Cavaliers' chronic issues are dwindling, and underperforming stars are ascending.
Dietrich’s comeback clincher sends No. 7 seed men’s tennis to NCAA quarterfinals
By Margaret Piatos | 2 days agoFor the 18th time in 20 years, Virginia is headed to the quarterfinals.
