Previewing the 2023 Virginia Women's Soccer Season

The Alexa Spaanstra era at Virginia is over. Her crown has been passed to a new queen who will look to lead the Cavaliers to their elusive first national championship.

In this case, the new queen is Maggie Cagle and her time is still very much in its genesis.

Spaanstra, in her case, waltzed into the starting lineup from her first game at Klockner, and given that she took advantage of her covid 5th-year, Virginia fans were treated to her elegance, sublime vision, and wonderful first touch for 109 games. But she’s moved on to the NWSL, and to be frank, she’s not taking a lot of silverware with her. Virginia had a couple of lengthy stays at #1 and won the ACC regular season two years ago, but that is it, from a trophy point-of-view.

This year, it will be Maggie Cagle who will be driving the Virginia bus. As a freshman, Cagle recorded 12 assists and four goals. Officially, seven of the 12 assists were game-winners, but trust me, the stat heads missed one: she had eight game winning assists. And two of her four goals were game winners. I don’t follow the scholastic/youth game and I certainly don’t pay attention to player rankings or the number of stars one has entering the collegiate game. But after an article I posted last year about head coach Steve Swanson’s incoming class, I heard from a friend just how good Cagle is and just how fortunate UVA was to get her (her mother, Kelly, was Virginia Tech’s longtime women’s coach.) Correct on both counts.

Virginia has been one of the top 8 – 10 programs in the past 20 years under Steve Swanson possessing the second longest streak (after UNC) of making the NCAA tournament, and until two years ago, having the second longest streak of advancing to the Sweet 16 (again, after UNC.) Virginia is a fixture in the top 10 and pretty much a lock to win 16+ games each year.

Continuing on this well-trod path will be more of a challenge this year as two weeks ago Swanson announced that captain Emma Dawson and the team’s best player, Lia Godfrey, have been felled by injury and will miss the entire year. Godfrey is a future pro and possesses a cannon of a shot while Dawson was the glue in the midfield. Both are midfielders and they were supposed to be part of the strongest units on the team, moreso since the team graduated three of her top four strikers.

Starting with the Midfield

Alexis Theoret is back anchoring the center of midfield. I had presumed she had nailed down that spot last year, since she had spent her first season deputizing for Taryn Torres, but Swanson gave an extended try-out to now-departed Claire Constant at the pivot. Theoret is better and by the end of the season, she’d regained her slot. I would expect her to be the starting and finishing central midfielder, but after last year, I won’t bet actual money on it.

Among the returning midfielders, I would expect that Jill Flammia, the most highly-rated of last year’s freshman class, to slot in alongside Theoret’s left, taking over Godfrey’s role. Flammia started more slowly than did Cagle, and she missed a month due to injury, but she has a nose for goal and reads the game well.

That would leave Sarah Brunner, of all the returning players, to be most likely to start at the right midfield slot. Brunner has grown in her three years at Charlottesville, growing from being mostly a squaddie her first two years to providing valuable depth at both forward and midfield last year. If she does in fact secure the right midfield spot, Brunner may well end up as the most important player, or at least the bellwether, on the team. Brunner is aggressive and a direct player; and all teams need a player or two like that on the team.

Moving on to the Goalscorers

I don’t know what to expect from the forward line. Last year’s starting trio of Spaanstra, Haley Hopkins and Rebecca Jarrett have all departed. Cagle was thrust into the starting role on the wing when Jarrett went down for a second season-ending injury. I’ll pencil in Cagle on either wing. The most like-kind replacement up front would appear to be Maya Carter succeeding Hopkins in the center. Carter lacks the flair of the two-time All-American, but most everyone does. Carter can read a cross and she seems equally comfortable shooting with both feet.

Brianna Jablonowski has been the second forward off the bench for most of her three years at Virginia. She has played mostly on the left and is more of a grinder. The more interesting option may be second-year Meredith McDermott. She got off to a slow start last year, missing time due to injuries and illness. She has breakaway speed, which is in short supply on this team. She could very well leapfrog Jablonowski in the first-off-the-bench role.

DEEE-Fence

The back line is the most settled unit on the squad led by three-year starter Talia Staude. Staude has started since Day One, pushing Phoebe McClernon – who I thought was the team’s best player – out to right back. She is solid, never puts a wrong foot in, and she is criminally underappreciated around the ACC. For example, this year’s pre-season All-ACC team lists 12 players (there was a tie, apparently) and yet only three defenders were chosen. Despite the fact that every team in the league plays four or five defenders along the back. Staude should be one of those 12.

The outside backs are Samar Guidry on the left and Laney Rouse on the right. Guidry has been starting since her first day and seemed a wonderful successor to Courtney Peterson, quickly establishing herself as one of the very best dribblers in the game. She took a knock and missed some time early in her second year and she just hasn’t seemed the same since. Their first two years, Guidry got more minutes than Rouse, but by the end of last season that dynamic had flipped and Rouse was the preferred defender. There is an opening alongside Staude at the back and it wouldn’t surprise me if Swanson moved Rouse into the center. The other option at the back is Lacey McCormack. Lacey is Steve Swanson’s army knife. She is listed as a midfielder but as a freshman she played along the forward line and last year she spent more time in defense, especially when Constant was playing at midfield. It’s clear she has Swanson’s trust.

The goalkeeper is Cayla White who is entering her 5th year at Virginia. Last year was her first year in the box replacing the departed Laurel Ivory. White is a better shot-stopper than Ivory but she lacked Laurel’s presence in the box. I don’t know if White will be hearing footsteps, but one of the more interesting story lines this season may be how White reacts to the pressure of the number-one-in-her-position recruit Victoria Safradin waiting in the wings.

The Newcomers

Which brings us to this year’s incoming class. It is rated by TopDrawer Soccer, a popular, if unreliable, ratings aggregator, as the #2 incoming class in the country. (As befits the ACC’s dominance in women’s soccer, I believe UNC has the top ranked class.) Swanson has shown no hesitation starting freshman from the first game as Laurel Ivory, Alexa Spaanstra, Samar Guidry, Lia Godfrey and Talia Staude were all present on the pitch when the very first whistle blew. This year’s class includes GK Safradin, defender Aniyah Collier, midfielder Yuna McCormack, forward Allie Ross, and midfielder/striker Ella Carter. Gotta admire the balance.

All five players are TopDrawer top 150 players, and in addition to the aforementioned quintet, Kathryn Kelley, a former top 10 recruit has transferred in from UCLA. One – or two – of these six will probably start, thereby scrambling completely my just-previewed lineup. Figuring out who will be this year’s breakout star is going to be part of the fun for this fan.

Kickoff

The season kicks off on Thursday, August 17th as the Cavaliers host Nevada at Klöckner at 7:00pm. The out of conference slate (or what Virginia coaches call the “first season”) is anchored by games against Michigan – the team has scrimmaged extensively against Michigan in recent years – and the return of the interstate games with West Virginia.

The ACC has 14 schools that field women’s soccer teams (the lone holdout being Georgia Tech) and they only play 10 games per season. So that means each year there are teams that you just don’t play. This year Virginia does not play Florida State, which has easily been the best of the Big 3 – FSU, UNC, and UVA – as well as Virginia’s personal nemesis. If there’s a year for Virginia to win the ACC regular season title, this would be it.

I invite you to join with me for the ride. Losing Emma Dawson and Lia Godfrey is a huge blow. To see how the team responds will make for fascinating viewing. I’m ready for this season to kickoff!

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