Virginia Head Coach Steve Swanson makes shortlist for FIFA World Coach of the Year

ZURICH, Switzerland – Virginia women’s soccer head coach Steve Swanson, who led the United States to the U-20 Women’s World Cup championship last month, was named to the shortlist for FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women’s Football the organization announced Thursday. Swanson is one of ten coaches named to the list.

Joining Swanson on the shortlist are Bruno Bini (France national team), John Herdman (Canada national team), Patrice Lair (Olympique Lyonnais), Maren Meinert (Germany U-20 national team), Silvia Neid (Germany national team), Hope Powell (England national team), Norio Sasaki (Japan national team), Pia Sundhage (USA national team) and Hiroshi Yoshida (Japan U-20/U-17 national teams).

The list of 10 coaches has been drawn up by experts from the FIFA Football Committee, the Committee for Women’s Football and the FIFA Women’s World Cup, as well as by a group of experts from France Football magazine.

On November 29 FIFA will announce the three finalists for the award. The winner of the award will be announced at FIFA’s awards gala in Zurich on January 7, 2013.

Richmond Forward Becca Wann selected to USWNT U20 World Cup Squad

Courtesy: Richmond Athletics

Becca Wann (Chesterfield, Va.) has been selected to the U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Team by head coach Steve Swanson to represent the United States at the 2012 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Japan.

Becca Wann U.S. Soccer Bio: One of the two uncapped players on the roster, she made a late run to make the squad and adds tremendous athleticism (she plays soccer and basketball at Richmond) as well as a dangerous weapon on set plays due to her aerial dominance. She has scored 25 goals in two seasons for the Spiders.

UVA Women Release 2012 Schedule

Virginia Women’s Soccer Announces 2012 Schedule

Cavaliers play 11 games at Klöckner Stadium

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

UVA Women's Coach Steve Swanson chosen to lead U.S. U-20 WNT

Jill Ellis, Development Director for the U.S. Women's National Teams, who herself has ties to the University of Virginia soccer program having served as assistant coach at the Virginia for one year (1996-97) has tabbed the current women's head coach at UVA in her continued rebuild of the USWNT program.

The United States Soccer Federation announced Monday that Virginia women’s soccer head coach Steve Swanson has been named the head coach of the Under-20 Women’s National Team. Swanson assumes those duties in addition to his role leading the Cavalier program.

“I am extremely grateful to US Soccer, the University of Virginia, and specifically [US Soccer Women’s Technical Director] April Heinrichs for helping make this opportunity a reality,” said Swanson. “April's vision and her long term commitment to the development of our sport on the women's side is inspiring and is just one of the many reasons that makes this position so exciting. I also want to thank my family, [UVa Athletics Director] Craig Littlepage, the coaching staff at Virginia and our players for their support in this endeavor. There is no way I could take on an opportunity like this without them.”

The CONCACAF qualifying tournament for the 2012 U-20 Women’s World Cup will be held early next year. If the team advances through qualifying, it will compete next August at the World Cup in Uzbekistan. The United States has won two of the previous five U-20 Women’s World Cups, taking the title in 2002 and 2008.

“Coach Swanson is not only a tremendous coach, but he is a communicator, leader and educator,” Littlepage said. “His strengths include identifying then developing talent and putting his players in positions where they can be successful and contribute to their team's success. We are proud of Coach Swanson for earning this prestigious appointment and wish him and the U-20 team great success.”

Swanson is entering his 12th season at Virginia and is the all-time winningest coach in program history with a 153-61-31 record (.688) over the past 11 seasons. He has led the Cavaliers to the NCAA Tournament each season, reaching the round of 16 nine times and the quarterfinals twice. In 2004, he guided Virginia to its first ACC Championship.

Prior to arriving in Charlottesville, Swanson was the head coach at Dartmouth (1990-95) and Stanford (1996-99). He has a 257-124-42 career record and his teams have won five conference titles and made 16 NCAA Tournament appearances. He is the only Division I coach to win championships in three different conferences. Swanson has coached 18 All-Americans, eight conference players of the year, and 71 all-conference selections. Of his former players at Dartmouth, Stanford and Virginia, 24 have played professionally in the WUSA or WPS.

Swanson has long been associated with US Soccer. From 2000-02 he served as the head coach of the U-16 Girls National Team and U-18 Women’s National Team. In recent years he has served as an assistant coach with the U-17, U-18 and U-20 National Teams.

Get to know UVA Women's Head Coach: Steve Swanson

The Virginia women's soccer team is off to a 4-0-1 start and is ranked No 6 nationally by Soccer America. The Cavaliers look for their fourth consecutive Virginia Nike Soccer Classic title when they host Texas on Friday and Boston University on Sunday. Virginiasports.com discussed the early part of the season and this weekend's tournament with head coach Steve Swanson.

Steve Swanson Biography

Question: Now that you are five games into the season, what have you seen from your team at this point of the season?

Swanson: I think there have been many positives that have stood out over the last month, since we started preseason training. There is strong work ethic amongst the group, which is important to any team that wants to go far in a season and accomplish their goals. That was something we saw in the spring that has carried over into the fall. I think there is a better appreciation for everyone's role on the team, and that has something to do with having a lot of veterans, who have a lot of experience. We are certainly more verbal, which is something I thought hurt us at times last year. Our communication is much better and that is something that has been beneficial to our play this year. Our technical ability from one player to the next is very high. The entire team has a good level of skill and that allows us to do some things that we might not have been able to do in the past. There are some areas that I have seen some great growth over the past year or so, and that has been keys to our play so far this season.

Question: How much of a luxury is it for a coach to have 10 returning starters and 18 returning letterwinners on a team?

Swanson: That kind of experience certainly makes a big difference for any coach. I like to think that it has been a reason for our early season success. Those players have worked awfully hard during their time at Virginia and have put themselves in a position to be successful on the field. It doesn't always happen, but you first want to put yourself in a position to be successful and our players have done that. They have worked hard on their weaknesses and have improved every year they have been in our program. With that, I hope comes some cohesiveness as a team as everyone knows each other's strengths and how to play as a unit.
Question: Has there anything over the first few weeks of the season that has surprised you?

Swanson: I don't think this is as much a surprise, but it has been nice to see the change in our second-year class. The evolution of them as players from first-years last season to where they are now has been great to see. I remember coming in last year and thinking how new and raw they were. It's always tough to come in as a first-year. They have done a great job of improving and using the experience they had last year and putting it to good use. I think our first years that have come in this year, it has been a surprise, not to us as coaches, but maybe to our team overall, just how quickly they have fit into the group. Their injection into the group has been really smooth and they did a good job preparing themselves this summer to be ready to contribute right away.

Question: This season, in three home games you have three wins and outscored opponents 18-0. What has been key to the strong play at Klöckner Stadium?

Swanson: Our mentality from the onset has been key. Our players are bringing an energy and a mentality to each game. We have gotten out to strong starts of games and that has a lot to do with our mentality and attitude heading into each game. For the coaching staff, it has been great to see that consistency.

Question: How important are these non-conference games in order to get ready for the difficulty of ACC play?

Swanson: They are extremely important as you try to prepare your team for what is ahead. It is like a boat. You put it in the water first and test it out and see if there is anything you need to fix before you try to take it through some storms. We try to put our team in an environment where we can see where we are and what we need to work on. These games are important in terms of building your resume come postseason, but also to test your team and get an accurate gauge of where you are.

Question: This weekend you host a challenging tournament. Texas is undefeated and Boston University, despite their record, has played some good teams well this year. The fourth team, William & Mary, is also undefeated. What will fans see when they come to Klöckner this weekend?

Swanson: It will be a good tournament. William & Mary has had a strong year thus far. Texas traditionally has always been a strong, well-coached team. We have never played BU before, but I have a lot of respect for their program and they are another team that was picked to win their conference, which we have already played a few of those teams this season. We know what we are getting with these games. These are more opportunities to test our team and that is exactly what we are looking for at this time of the year. Hopefully we will get a good crowd out for both Friday and Sunday, because I think our fans will be treated to some great soccer.