UVA women’s soccer seekes revenge against Virginia Tech

Last season, the Virginia women’s soccer team lost 1-0 to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. The memory of that performance is still fairly fresh on the minds of UVa players.

That was pretty evident in the aftermath of No. 18 Virginia’s easy win over Clemson on Sunday when the Cavaliers were asked about tonight’s rematch with the Hokies in Charlottesville at Klockner Stadium.

“We want to [dominate] them,” said Virginia sophomore Lauren Alwine, smiling. “It’s Tech.

“We want revenge from last year, not necessarily revenge, but we want to come back and win it this year. It’s on our field and it should be good since it’s a night game.”

On Sunday, Virginia (6-2-2, 1-1-0 ACC) was able to wash away its most recent bad memory — a loss to N.C. State on the road in its league opener. Against the Tigers, UVa looked more like the squad that had lost just once in its first eight games.

However, finishing still seems to be a bugaboo for coach Steve Swanson’s squad. Swanson attributes part of his team’s inability to put the ball in the net to the ultra-conservative schemes of some of Virginia’s opponents.

“They’ve been dropping a lot of numbers behind the ball,” Swanson said. “We just have to be a little sharper.

“I think our team is capable of scoring on anybody at any given time. We’re capable of putting up numbers.”

Finishing was the issue against Tech last October. Virginia outshot the Hokies 17-5, but wound up losing after a goal off a free kick by Tech in the 48th minute. The loss was UVa’s first conference defeat of the year.

“We just couldn’t get a goal,” Alwine recalled. “We had all the opportunities, but couldn’t make it count. Hopefully [tonight] we’ll be able to make all our opportunities count.”

Virginia Tech also eliminated Virginia from last season’s ACC tournament on penalties following a 1-1 draw in the semifinals.

The Hokies (8-2, 2-0) have won both their ACC games. They’re coming off a 3-0 win over N.C. State on Sunday.