Great teams validate their success during the postseason.
The Virginia women's soccer team will look to do just that. The Cavaliers received an at-large bid to the 2007 NCAA Tournament and will host Loyola Friday at 5 p.m. at Klöckner Stadium. The Cavaliers are a No. 4 seed and will host the first two rounds of the tournament.
For much of the season the Cavaliers held a top-five ranking and only recently fell out of the top five after a couple of tough conference road losses. The Cavaliers hold a record of 11-3-6 (5-2-3 ACC) and have performed well against a number of ranked opponents.
Recently, however, Virginia has not played its best soccer. The Cavs lost their last two regular season contests to conference powerhouses North Carolina and Boston College. Furthermore, Virginia squeaked by Miami on penalty kicks in the opening round of the ACC Tournament. The Cavaliers then lost to North Carolina again, this time falling to the Tar Heels in the conference tournament semifinals, also in penalty kicks.
Defensively, Virginia played extremely well during the tournament. In two games, the Cavaliers' stellar backline gave up no goals to the high-powered offenses of Miami and North Carolina. On the other hand, Virginia's offensive production was anemic, and both matches were decided on penalty kicks. To say the least, the ACC Tournament was a mystifying experience.
There is, however, no shame in being defeated by North Carolina. After all, the Tar Heels have won several national championships and are a dominant women's soccer dynasty. Major stars, like Mia Hamm, have played and excelled at North Carolina and the current group of Tar Heels is no exception to the program's history. North Carolina is the defending national champion and has compiled a great record this season. Thus, two losses to North Carolina should be taken with a grain of salt.
An additional loss for Virginia came at the hands of the Stanford Cardinals, another strong soccer program, during an early season California tournament. The Cavaliers, therefore, have conducted a great regular season.
In order to advance in the NCAA Tournament, Virginia will need to establish some sort of offensive rhythm and consistency. The Cavaliers have shown during the latter half of the season that they have trouble putting things together to score. This is due in large part to significant injuries sustained during the course of the season. Junior forward Jess Rostedt, the team's leading scorer the last two years, has been out since the second week of the season. Nonetheless, Virginia will need to find a way to put the ball in the back of the net in order to advance past the tournament's third round, which is where last year's season ended. Virginia has played extremely well defensively and has also shown an ability to handle the ball well. If the Cavaliers go far in the NCAA Tournament it will probably hinge on these two factors.
"I feel the team is at the style you'd want at this time of year," Virginia coach Steve Swanson said. "We've worked harder this year to develop a team which can really handle the ball and I think that's helped us."
-- Anders Sleight
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