Virginia Women's Soccer Announces 2012 Schedule
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CHARLOTTESVILLE – The Virginia women’s soccer team announced its 2012 schedule today, which includes 11 home games at Klöckner Stadium and 10 contests against 2011 NCAA Tournament teams.
“As always, we have a challenging schedule ahead which should give our fans plenty to be excited about this fall,” said head coach Steve Swanson. “The ACC has such a strong field of teams, so we know how competitive the conference will be, but we are equally excited about our non-conference games which include some perennial top teams. This year’s schedule also includes five in-state teams whom we have built up some great rivalries with over the years. Overall, we are confident this schedule will help bring out the best in what feel can be an exciting, highly entertaining and fun team to watch this fall at Klockner Stadium.”
Of the 10 NCAA Tournament teams on the schedule, eight reached at least the round of 16, including College Cup participants Duke, Florida State and Wake Forest.
Virginia will open the regular season with a four-game homestand, beginning with the season opener on Aug. 17 against Penn State. That is followed with games against Radford, Liberty and UNC-Wilmington. The Cavaliers’ lone non-conference road trip comes Aug. 31-Sept 2 when they travel to Austin for the Longhorn Invitational to meet host Texas along with SMU. Virginia returns home to host the Virginia Nike Soccer Classic Sept. 7-9 as it welcomes in-state foes George Mason and James Madison.
The ACC schedule opens with a pair of home matches against NC State (Sept. 13) and North Carolina (Sept. 16). The Cavaliers conclude September with visits to Clemson and Maryland before hosting NCAA runner-up Duke on Sept. 30. Virginia hosts Wake Forest on Oct. 5 before a three-game road trip to Miami, Florida State and Virginia Tech. The Cavaliers conclude the regular season on Oct. 25 by hosting Boston College.
The ACC Tournament will be played in the same format that debuted last season. It begins on Oct. 28 as the top four seeds host quarterfinal games. Those winners will travel to Cary, N.C., for the semifinals and final the following weekend at the WakeMed Soccer Park. The NCAA Tournament begins on Nov. 9 and runs through the College Cup in San Diego, Calif., on Nov. 30 and Dec. 2.
Prior to the season, the Cavaliers play a pair of exhibition games. They will play at Notre Dame on Aug. 10 before returning home to host Georgetown Aug. 12.
Virginia returns seven starters among 20 returning letterwinners from last year’s squad that went 17-5-2 and reached the NCAA quarterfinals. The Cavaliers return 90 percent of their goal scoring from 2011, including 10 of their top 11 scorers, headlined by All-Americans Caroline Miller (Rockville, Md.) and Morgan Brian (St. Simons Island, Ga.).
2012 Virginia Women’s Soccer Schedule
Aug. 10 at Notre Dame (ex.) 1:00 pm
Aug. 12 GEORGETOWN (ex) 7:00 pm
Aug. 17 PENN STATE 7:00 pm
Aug. 19 RADFORD 2:00 pm
Aug. 22 LIBERTY 7:00 pm
Aug. 26 UNC-WILMINGTON 2:00 pm
Aug. 31 at Texas (Longhorn Invitational) 7:00 pm
Sept. 2 vs. SMU (Longhorn Invitational – Austin) 11:00 am
Sept. 7 GEORGE MASON (Virginia Nike Soccer Classic) 5:00 pm
Sept. 9 JAMES MADISON (Virginia Nike Soccer Classic) 2:30 pm
Sept. 13 NC STATE 7:00 pm
Sept. 16 NORTH CAROLINA 2:00 pm
Sept. 23 at Clemson 1:00 pm
Sept. 27 at Maryland 7:00 pm
Sept. 30 DUKE 2:00 pm
Oct. 5 WAKE FOREST 7:00 pm
Oct. 11 at Miami 7:00 pm
Oct. 14 at Florida State 1:00 pm
Oct. 21 at Virginia Tech 5:00 pm
Oct. 25 BOSTON COLLEGE 7:00 pm
Oct. 28 ACC Quarterfinal (at top four seeds) 2:00 pm
Nov. 2-4 ACC Tournament
Nov. 9 NCAA First Round
Nov. 16 NCAA Second Round
Nov. 18 NCAA Third Round
Nov. 23 NCAA Quarterfinal
Nov. 30 NCAA College Cup Semifinal (San Diego, Calif.)
Dec. 2 NCAA College Cup Final (San Diego, Calif.)