No. 18 Virginia

2020 Record: 5-3
Pre-COVID Ranking: 16th

The fall was like no other of Julie Myers’ previous 25 years at Virginia. The spring likewise will look very different for the veteran coach, who has won NCAA championships as a player (1991), assistant coach (1993) and head coach (2004) in Charlottesville. 

The Cavaliers will play 10 games in the ACC, up from the usual seven. They are expected to face North Carolina, Duke and Virginia Tech twice apiece in the new format that protects teams from traveling as much out of conference. 

“We’ve always played a really hard schedule,” Myers said. “This year will be an even harder schedule.” 

Virginia is in the midst of a 10-year run in which it hasn’t finished better than third in the ACC. Since reaching the NCAA semifinals in 2014, the Cavaliers are 18-19 in the ACC. After losing All-American midfielder Sammy Mueller to graduation, Virginia is flying under the radar even with a reputation for finding a way into the hunt. 

“I can see why we’re maybe an underestimated team, but we’ll sneak up from behind,” Myers said. “That’s fine. Where you start the season doesn’t make a huge difference, although you do get a source of pride from being ranked in that top five or 10. We’ll take that there’s not a whole lot of pressure on us and we’ll chip away and sneak up on teams.” 

Mueller graduated after leading the ACC in ground balls the last two years and topping the Cavaliers in points, ground balls, caused turnovers and draws over the last two years. She is using her final year of eligibility as a graduate student at Northwestern. 

“I’m happy that she gets to play,” Myers said. “I’m a little bit jealous that it’s not with us, but it’s what she wants and I’m all for it and in support of it. Every year you graduate your best player, you hope you’ve brought in the first-years that can help close that gap and the players that are rising up in the ranks are ready to step up in that leadership role. I’ve seen that happen over the course of the fall.” 

The Cavaliers worked in small groups to build this year’s squad over the fall. It was a big change from the oftentimes frenetic pace of some falls, but it enabled the Cavaliers to study each player’s strengths and grow closer as a group. 

“It was a longer progression to getting everyone on the field and working systems,” Myers said. “It was a nice slower path to getting there without the rush of preparing for a game or scrimmage.” 

Myers is looking forward to further development this spring. Virginia showed sparks in last year’s shortened season. The Cavaliers edged Navy and Princeton and hung with North Carolina for a half, but they started the ACC season 0-2 with losses to UNC and Duke. With their bolstered conference schedule, they will have additional chances to prove themselves. 

“We were clearly not consistent last year,” Myers said. “We had some great games and some great moments and some huge plays that won games. We certainly need to be focused on doing our details and taking advantage of every opportunity, but also creating more opportunities.”