The Virginia women’s soccer team will attempt tonight to do something it has never done before: go toe-to-toe with the North Carolina Tar Heels and win.
After winning their last game against Boston College, the No. 8 Cavaliers (12-2-1, 6-1 ACC) are undefeated at home this season, and sophomore midfielder Kika Toulouse considers this game as a great opportunity to end their losing streak against No. 2 North Carolina.
“Coming off beating a team we never beat before, we just want to keep that going against UNC since we’ve never beat them,” Toulouse said. “We just want to keep this momentum going and it’s a good feeling that we want to keep as long as we are at home.”
North Carolina (14-1-1, 7-0 ACC) is known as a stronghold of women’s college soccer, having won the ACC Championship 18 times, as well as 18 NCAA titles since 1982. Tar Heels coach Anson Dorrance has coached the Tar Heels through all their championships.
Virginia coach Steve Swanson has been preparing his team for the game.
“With UNC you know what you are going to get,” Swanson said. “They are going to come at us and send a lot of numbers forward. It’s nothing we haven’t seen. It will be good for us at home; it’s always been a good match with them. It’s now a matter of getting our rest and preparing for them this week.”
When preparing for any game, evaluating an opponent’s abilities so far that season can be very helpful, but that is not necessarily true with the Tar Heels.
“They are always difficult to play against in some ways because you don’t see what they bring throughout the season,” Swanson said. “A lot of teams don’t do what they do. They play a different system; they commit a lot of numbers forward. We have to be ready for that.
They will try to take away some of the things we do well. I think we have enough experience here that we will be ready and know what is coming at us.”
With postseason prospects at stake, this game has significant ramifications and could determine the ACC regular-season champion. For the Cavaliers, playing in big games is nothing new.
“It’s always a big game because it’s Carolina,” Swanson said. “I think there are other big games through the season. All our girls will be excited about it, ready for it, know what to expect. It’s a long haul and we just have to get ready for this next one. We’ve got a week to prepare for them which is good. And it will be good to be at home against them Friday night.”
While the Cavaliers may be playing one of their toughest opponents so far this season, they tend to focus more on what they can do to achieve victory.
“They are always ranked high, in the top five,” Toulouse said. “We don’t really think much about it. We know we are just as good as them if not better. We just go in there and give it our all and hope for the best.”
In the past, the Cavaliers have been able to play close games against the Tar Heels, and they do not expect that to change this time.
“They’ve always been one of the top teams in the country,” Swanson said. “So any win against a top team is going to help your confidence. For us, we have been very close. We lost on penalty kicks in the semi-finals of the ACC Tournament last year. We lost in double overtime last year in the regular season ... [They have] been very good games, very competitive games, and hopefully we can break through.”
With all that is at stake with this game, the Cavaliers hope their preparation will lead them to success.
“We’ll just prepare for what we know they are going to bring at us,” Swanson said. “I think the biggest thing for us right now is to be rested and having the bulk of the week to get ready for them.”
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