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No. 3 Virginia battles Duke, No. 14 Hokies on the road

Looking to extend four game winning streak, women's soccer closes out away schedule against ACC foes

After starting the season with 10 consecutive wins, the No. 3 Virginia women’s soccer team dropped its first game to No. 2 Florida State Sunday, Sept. 28. Nearly a month later, the Cavaliers have begun a new win streak, notching four straight victories against ACC opponents.

Virginia (14-1-0, 6-1-0 ACC) will have a chance to extend that streak to six in the next four days as the team plays at Duke Thursday and at Virginia Tech Sunday. Both games will be the Cavaliers’ first matchup against each opponent this season, and players say they are looking forward to it.

“Duke’s always fun to play against,” junior forward Brittany Ratcliffe said. “They’ve always given us a hard time. They’re a good team, so that’ll be a good game — and then Tech, they’re obviously our rival, so that will be a good game.”

The Blue Devils (7-7-1, 3-3-1 ACC) have won just one of their last five games, but the history between Duke and Virginia is reason enough to predict a close, down-to-the-wire outing — an opinion echoed by both players and coaches.

“They fight very hard,” coach Steve Swanson said. “They’ve always been a tough team to breakdown, and I think that we have a lot of respect for their program, their coaching staff. As long as I’ve been here it’s been a very competitive game.”

Virginia Tech (12-4-0, 3-4-0 ACC), on the other hand, has had a more successful season than Duke, but in recent weeks has slipped into a similar downward trend. The Hokies have lost in three of their last four outings — their only win being a 2-0 match against Miami. But the team showcased its talent early in the year when it kicked off the season with 10 straight victories.

Even though this game carries plenty of importance for the team's postseason implications, players are also quick to mention the extra motivation that comes from the in-state rivalry.

“It’s always been a huge rivalry,” senior forward Danielle Colaprico said. “Now that it’s at their place this time, it’s definitely a different environment. Their fans are very rowdy and always supporting them, so we’re going to have to come out and play our game.”

In contrast to its upcoming opponents, Virginia has been nothing short of excellent in October. The Cavaliers have been on a tear offensively, scoring 16 goals during the current four-game win streak.

Impressively, much of the team’s success has come in the absence of star player senior midfielder Morgan Brian. Brian has been in and out of the lineup this season while practicing and playing for the U.S. Women’s National Team.

“[Morgan] gives us that huge boost both on and off the field, but even without her we’re still a good team,” Ratcliffe said. “We have depth. We have great people who can play defense and midfield and goalie. We have a great team — and even though Morgan’s not here, we play Virginia soccer, and that’s what matters.”

Without Morgan this weekend, the Cavaliers will look to use both of these expected competitive games to help them tune up for the postseason. After the Virginia Tech match, Virginia will play one last game at home, against Pittsburgh Nov. 1, to cap off the regular season. Barring a late-season meltdown, the team is expected to enter the NCAA tournament highly-seeded, with a chance to claim the title after falling short in the College Cup last season.

“This team’s a little different — we have a lot of depth this year,” Colaprico said. “I think last year is a lot of the motivation to realize that we can win this and know that we can reach that goal.”

Thursday’s game against Duke will take place at 7 p.m. in Durham, North Carolina while the Virginia Tech match is scheduled for a 5 p.m. kickoff Sunday in Blacksburg.

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