The top-ranked Virginia women’s soccer team is having its best season in program history. Sixteen games into the season, that much is clear.
The Cavaliers (16-0, 10-0 ACC) have won every game they have played. They lead the nation with 3.25 goals scored per game and have notched 10 shutouts. They have beaten top-10 opponents Penn State, Notre Dame and North Carolina and have bullied overmatched foes by five- and six-goal margins. With three regular season games remaining, they have established themselves as the unquestioned top dog in the nation, earning a unanimous number one ranking in the most recent NSCAA Coaches poll.
But the outlandish stats and incredible accolades the Cavaliers have accrued this season tell only part of the story. Although the roster is loaded with high-caliber talent, the team’s unparalleled success is a product of more than just elite skill. Behind the scenes, coach Steve Swanson has helped pull the strings as Virginia marches ever-closer to the first perfect regular season slate in program history, and perhaps, the team’s first NCAA title.
Swanson is no stranger to soccer success, both as a player and as a coach. Swanson played collegiately at Michigan State University, where he was a team captain and regional All-American in his final year with the Spartans. After graduation, Swanson enjoyed an illustrious professional career in the American Indoor Soccer Association with the Milwaukee Wave and Chicago Shoccers. He has used his experience as a player to shape his coaching philosophy.
“The experiences that I’ve had as a player certainly has helped me as a coach,” Swanson said. “I try to recall the things that motivated me and the things that I know players respond to.”
In 1990, Swanson earned his first head-coaching job at the struggling Dartmouth College. In his first year there, the Big Green went just 4-9-1 in what would be the only losing season of Swanson’s 24-year coaching career. Swanson made his impact felt quickly, and Dartmouth returned the next season to win the Ivy League.
After amassing 55 wins and two NCAA tournament appearances in six seasons at Dartmouth, Swanson moved on to Stanford, where he again enjoyed immense success. In four years with the Cardinal squad, Swanson racked up 49 wins, two Pac-10 titles and three NCAA tournament appearances.
“When I got to Stanford, I was their third coach in four years, so there was obviously some unrest there,” Swanson said. “I definitely needed those six years at Dartmouth to survive at Stanford.”
Though Swanson’s tenures at Dartmouth and Stanford were remarkable for the stability and success he fostered, the truly astounding portion of his career began in 2000. In February of 2000, Swanson came Virginia, ushering in a new era of Cavalier soccer.
In his 13 years at the University prior to this season, Swanson has accomplished many historic feats, entering the record books both at Virginia and nationally. He has amassed a 188-71-34 record, giving him the highest winning percentage in program history. Swanson also became the first Division-I coach to win titles in three different conferences after his Cavalier squad won the 2004 ACC Championship.
Swanson inherited a team that had fared well under the tutelage of former Cavalier and U.S. Women’s National Team coach April Heinrichs. Rather than looking to rebuild a program, Swanson hoped to take a team that had advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament the year before to the next level.
“The difference at U.Va. was that April had done a great job, so it was really just trying to elevate a good program to a great program,” Swanson said. “I’ve been very lucky to have a supportive University and amazing athletic department, not to mention all of the incredible things that my players have done for themselves over the years.”
In his 23-year career at Dartmouth, Stanford and Virginia, Swanson has gone 308-134-45, appeared in 18 NCAA tournaments and won six conference titles. In addition, he has served as the head coach of the U-20, U-18 and U-16 U.S. women’s national teams.
Like the ever-expanding list of accolades that apply to his 2013 team, the statistics that Swanson has amassed speak for themselves. Swanson has proven an astute soccer mind and an effective coach. He has had success in three different conferences in two decades and has built a reputation for always putting his teams in contention for conference and national titles.
“A huge part of it is that he brings the energy every day, no matter if we’re feeling tired,” senior defender Molly Menchel said. “We really don’t know how he can come in every day with as much energy as he does to get us to improve. I think that’s just a part of who he is. He wants everyone to take every chance you can to go out and get better.”
Swanson’s immense success as a college coach has resulted from more than just his vast game knowledge. Swanson has shown the unique ability to bond with his players on a personal level, illustrating that he cares about more than just wins and losses.
“On a very basic level, he’s just a great guy,” Menchel said. “We always joke around by calling him ‘dad’ because he actually is like a second dad to all of us.”
Personability has been the intangible key to Swanson’s tangible success. From the moment his players enter the program, they become family, and subsequently work tirelessly for the good of the team.
“He is definitely always there to help, no matter what it is,” freshman forward Alexis Shaffer said. “He really made an effort to welcome in all of the first-years and I immediately felt incorporated into the program.”
In the past decade, Swanson has guided some of the most successful teams and athletes through not only the grass of Klöckner Stadium, but the Grounds of the University. In the process, he has formed close bonds with his players and built a standard of performance currently unmatched by virtually any other college sports team in the country.
Though winning may not be Swanson’s only priority, it is the only result his Cavaliers have come to know.
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