Q&A with Sarah Senty

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The Virginia women’s soccer team defeated Army and West Virginia last weekend to advance to the third round of the NCAA Tournament. The Cavaliers, the No. 2 seed in the UCLA region, will host No. 3 seed Duke in the Round of 16 Saturday night at 7 p.m. at Klöckner Stadium. VirginiaSports.com caught up with senior defender Sarah Senty to preview the game.

Question: This is the fourth consecutive year that the team has advanced to the Round of 16, but is the first time in three years that you get to play a third round game at home. How important is it to get another game at home in the tournament?

Senty: We are really happy about it. As a fourth-year, I am just excited to get another game at Klöckner. It is a huge advantage for us to play at home. We love playing at Klöckner and usually play very well there. The longer we are at home in the tournament, the better it is.

Question: In the last game you defeated West Virginia, a team that you know very well. This week you have Duke, another familiar opponent. What are the advantages and disadvantages to having NCAA Tournament games that are rematches of regular season games?

Senty: Personally, I like when we play different teams. There is just something fun about playing a team that you have never played before. You are not exactly sure what to expect and there is an excitement to it. When you play a team a second time, you know what to expect, which is an advantage, but they also know you. There are pros and cons to both, but you just have to play whoever you are matched up with.

Question: What do you recall about the first meeting with Duke?

Senty: We played well, even though we tied them. We had a lot of chances, but just couldn’t get one to go in. Their keeper played well and we hit a couple of posts. We need to do a better job of finishing our chances this time.

Question: This season you have nine assists, which is three times as many as you had in your first three years combined. What has been the key to your increased offensive production this year?

Senty: I am not exactly sure because I don’t think I have done that much differently. I have sent some long balls to our forwards who have done a great job of making runs and finishing those chances. A lot of the credit should go to them.

Question: You aren’t the only defender that has been involved offensively this season. The starting back four have combinded for eight goals and 16 assists this year. What does it say about this team when you are getting production from everywhere on the field?

Senty: It gives us a lot of confidence because everyone can get involved offensively. You can’t look at our team and focus on one or two players that you need to stop. Everyone on the field is dangerous. I think that makes it hard to prepare to play against us.

Question: Does the mentality change this week because there is only one game instead of two games?

Senty: It helps. We know that we can go all out and we don’t need to save anything for another game. It also helps in practice because all the focus is on what we need to do to win this one game, not how to win the first and then recover and turn around and play another.