After 90 arduous minutes of action Sunday in the heart of the nation’s capital, Virginia players gasped for air with their hands on their knees as the clock finally wound down — nothing left in the tank. The 0-0 draw said it all, as opportunity after opportunity fell through the cracks.
Now, there is little time to dwell on it.
As Virginia approaches conference play, opponents will have no patience for slow starts. Four other ACC teams — No. 1 Stanford, No. 3 Duke, No. 3 Wake Forest and No. 7 North Carolina — sit inside the current national top 10, and the conference’s preseason coaches poll slotted Virginia at sixth, one spot ahead of Saturday’s opponent, No. 3 Wake Forest.
That gap offers little comfort for Virginia’s conference opener in Winston-Salem. Wake Forest enters the ACC opener with a perfect record of 7-0-0, including a ranked battle against then-No. 21 Florida in Gainesville, and the Demon Deacons did not allow a goal in their first six games of the season.
For a Virginia team still searching for a consistent finishing touch after scoring one goal in the past two games, the timing of this matchup could not be tougher. The ACC slate opens against a defense that has hardly blinked all season, in a conference where dominant wins come at a premium.
All of that said, there is plenty to like about the Cavaliers beneath the frustration and sheer competitiveness of the ACC. Virginia is 4-0-2 and unbeaten through six games, a record that includes wins over Northwestern and Yale, followed by a recent run of draws.
Second-year midfielder Addison Halpern — the Gatorade National Player of the Year in women’s soccer out of high school — has carried the attack in her sophomore season, scoring four goals in Virginia’s first four games and putting the team on her back against then No. 10-Tennessee down the stretch.
In goal, fourth-year goalkeeper Victoria Safradin has quietly given the Cavaliers a reliable defensive foundation, with her shot-stopping and deflections keeping Virginia in every match.
Even with second-year midfielder Pearl Cecil sidelined for the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup and expected to miss the Wake Forest trip, her flashes thus far suggest the Cavaliers have a difference-maker waiting in the wings upon her return.
Another piece of the Cavaliers’ attacking rebuild is third-year forward Gio Canali, the All-ACC freshman selection at Miami, who has wasted no time after scoring twice in Virginia’s first three games of the season.
Once again, similar to Cecil, the problem is timing. Canali also represents Brazil on the U20 national team — she, too, is currently away at the U20 Women’s World Cup in Poland. Her absence pushes Coach Steve Swanson into some uncomfortable lineups up top, but her play before she left — and her return before the ACC schedule really begins to drag on in the next few games — indicate that she is the exact reinforcement Virginia will need.
The pieces are there. Virginia just desperately needs them to click at the same time — and the right time.
When Virginia plays its most well-rounded soccer, the ball moves fast and moves through everyone. Ten different Cavaliers have found the net across the team’s six-game stretch to open the season — headlined by Halpern’s five and Canali’s two. Virginia is at its best when there is no hesitation behind when to pressure — and when its attack does not hinge on a single number.
The Cavaliers find momentum when they share the wealth, and since Swanson ditched his long-favored 4-3-3 for a more fluid style near the net, Virginia has been able to capitalize, especially in its 7-0 rout against La Salle.
The problem is that depth has translated into fewer goals lately. Virginia has drawn its last two matches, albeit against tough opponents, but the same quick combinations that lit up against Northwestern and La Salle have stalled out. Even if the system has shown productivity, Virginia will need to put everything on the line to make its opportunities count against a Wake Forest team that rarely gives up goals.
Given that Wake Forest has been comfortable grinding out low-scoring wins all season, the Cavaliers cannot win solely off their tempo. If the Cavaliers try to match Wake Forest’s patience, they play into exactly the type of match that produced back-to-back scoreless stretches against Tennessee and Georgetown.
The path Virginia must take is the one that got the Cavaliers off to a 4-0-0 start in the first place. Virginia will need to pressure Wake Forest’s defensive effort quickly before the Demon Deacons can fully set themselves up to force turnovers rather than settling for the half-court game.
Additionally, the Cavaliers cannot afford to be passive with their set pieces or second-chance opportunities. Against a defense as disciplined as Wake Forest’s, there could be as few as two or three real chances in the full 90 minutes of play — and burying one of them in the back of the net could very well be the difference in Virginia’s ACC opener.
Nonetheless, however Saturday goes, it is only the first checkpoint in a conference slate that offers no room to breathe. Highly anticipated bouts against Duke and North Carolina loom later into Virginia’s schedule after Saturday’s game in Winston-Salem, and Notre Dame is never far behind, regardless of early-season stumbles.
Virginia battles the Demon Deacons in a top-10 ranked matchup Saturday at Spry Stadium on ACCNX at 7 p.m.
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