Spring practice usually consists of training, building the team concepts the coach wants to emphasize, and playing a series of exhibition games that are little more than scrimmages. But in this, the year of the pandemic, the spring games have an outsized value because the NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship still has yet to be played. This will be the most consequential spring ever.
On 11 February, Virginia announced its spring slate of games:
- Hosting George Mason on February 28th.
- @ VCU on March 6th.
- @ Old Dominion on March 14th.
- @ West Virginia on April 3rd.
- Hosting West Virginia on April 10th.
Somewhere along the line a scrimmage with the North Carolina Courage of the NWSL was announced and then dropped. I think this is the third season in a row that Coach Steve Swanson has gotten a game with the Courage on the schedule only to have it cancel. Maybe we should try the Washington Spirit instead.
This spring slate is especially important because much of college soccer waited until this season to play their conference schedules and tournaments and these schools will have the advantage of playing meaningful games immediately before Selection Sunday. The indelible image of Virginia, in selectors’ eyes, may have been their failure to advance to the ACC final.  As an added tweak, the tournament has been reduced to 48 teams. There are 31 conferences playing women’s soccer, which means there are 31 automatic bids to the tournament leaving only 17 at-large bids. Everybody is going to be squeezed. Virginia has an inside lane to the tournament based on their sterling track record under Swanson, their 3rd place finish in the ACC regular season, and their fall-ending perch at #10 in the polls. But the women can take nothing for granted because we simply do not know how selectors will weight two games with West Virginia just seven days apart.
The best news for the team came in the form of Taryn Torres’ decision to return to the team for her spring season. Despite an injury that robbed much of the season, Torres was selected by Sky Blue FC in the third round of the NWSL draft. Sky Blue even knew that Torres planned on returning for the spring season, so yes, ladies and gentlemen, Torres has been stashed! NBA teams have been doing this for years with European talent, and of course, baseball’s minor leagues allow the pros to do the same. Congratulations, Taryn, you’ve just achieved equality with the men.
On a similar note, congratulations also go out to now-departed 5th-year senior Alissa Gorzak who was selected in the fourth round by the Chicago Red Stars. It could be a good fit for her as she would join fellow Wahoos Danielle Colaprico, Zoe Morse and Makenzy Doniak. As of right now, it looks like Alissa was the only one of Chicago’s four draft picks that were invited to camp.
Gorzak’s departure puts the spotlight squarely on 3rd-year junior Ashlynn Serepca. Gorzak had been the first forward off the bench for Steve Swanson so it should be Serepca’s time to shine. Ash came to Virginia as the 10th highest rated player in her draft class (just behind Alexa Spaanstra and ahead of Rebecca Jarrett) and as the two-time North Carolina player of the year. I would expect that her collegiate career has not lived up to her expectations because Spaanstra and Jarrett have been forces since day 1. And then Diana Ordonez came to C’ville and immediately jumped over Serepca into the starting lineup. I think this spring is a make-or-break session for Ashlynn, and given that it is just five games, she’s not going to have a lot of time to find her rhythm.
The other player in the spotlight is Sarah Clark. Upon transferring from Purdue, Clark walked into the starting lineup for the first eight games before getting exposed vs Florida State. Coming off the bench as a sub, she seemed to have lost some confidence and was much more tentative. Anyone who saw her two crosses versus Pitt knows what she can contribute to this team. If we’re going to make, and then advance, in the tournament we’ll need Confidant Clark.
The challenge for Coach Swanson is going to be getting this team to defend corners. We sucked at it this fall and there was an inevitability to Florida State, for example, scoring the 4th and decisive goal to clinch the win in Charlottesville. As has been pointed out by many, defending corners is about attitude, and we lacked it. Swanson’s going to have to pull a rabbit out of his hat to advance beyond the second round of the NCAA tournament.
The two games to watch are clearly the home and home series with the Mountaineers. The second game is on the ACC Network, so I will be able to see that game. West Virginia had a very strong fall, finishing ranked #4 and with only two losses. WVU is a strong program as evidenced by defender Jordan Brewster being named to the MAC Hermann Trophy watch list. This is the 10th season in a row a Mountaineer has been so designated. This is just a marker attesting to the talent head coach Nikki Izzo-Brown has been able to bring to Morgantown.
Let’s dig into the most anticipated spring season in memory!