Seventh-ranked Virginia defeated Boston College, 2-0, on Thursday at Klöckner Stadium, giving UVA head coach Steve Swanson his 500th career victory.
“There’s a lot of gratitude there. I’ve worked at three amazing institutions and coached some amazing players. What I reflect on is more of the relationships and people as opposed to the number of wins,” said Swanson, a Michigan State alum who coached at Dartmouth and Stanford before taking the job at Virginia in 2000.
“It’s always been about people for me,” said Swanson, who has now won 396 games at Virginia in 26 seasons. “I think back on my career and can remember a lot of the games, but it’s more of the moments of interaction with the people you love and work with. You watch those people graduate and grow up. It’s a proud moment, but more for the people that have been involved in my career than anything else.”
Both goals in #500 came in a six-minute stretch of the second half on PKs.
The ‘Hoos (12-2-3, 6-2-2 ACC) got on the board in the 53rd minute. Tatum Galvin was taken down in the box to set up the first chance of the contest. Maggie Cagle lined up at the spot and buried her shot for the 1-0 lead.
Six minutes later, the Cavaliers lined up for another penalty kick after a handball on a cross into the box was confirmed on review. Allie Ross went to the spot and converted Virginia’s second chance of the night to put the home team up 2-0 on the Eagles.
“We started off well, we just didn’t take our chances well,” Swanson said. “It was disappointing at the half to not be up and have it scoreless at that time. We pushed forward in the second half and got a couple of goals, which was good. If you look at the regular season, there are a lot of positive things we can take away and feel good about, but we are going to have to raise our level down the stretch and that starts on Sunday. That’s a challenge for us, but one we have to rise to meet, and I think we will.”
Virginia will next play in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament on Sunday, when the Cavaliers take on #6 Florida State (10-2-3, 6-2-2 ACC) in Tallahassee.
Kick is set for 8 p.m. on ACC Network.
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Chris Graham
