UVA women's soccer head coach Steve Swanson previews the match against Florida State.
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00:00 You guys have played a lot of close games with Florida State,
00:04 especially over the last few years.
00:05 How much does that familiarity between these two teams kind of
00:09 impact the way you game plan for a game like this?
00:11 I don't know, it's tough, you know, they've got a new coach,
00:18 they've got new players.
00:21 I think the familiarity is being in these kind of,
00:27 you know, these settings and the experience of these kind of games
00:32 and what they mean and those kinds of things.
00:34 But I think certainly there's some familiarity with the players that are there.
00:40 There's several players, obviously, that our players,
00:44 especially our more veteran players, have been competing against for years.
00:47 So I think there's that familiarity and there's the familiarity with the rivalry
00:53 and the familiarity with the quality of program they have and those kinds of things.
00:57 But, you know, at the end of the day, they've got a new team,
01:04 they've got a new coach, so they're a little different in some ways.
01:07 But I think the familiarity which will help us is that we've got a number of players
01:15 that have played in these games in the past and recognize,
01:21 you know, what they're going to have to bring to the game,
01:24 both from a mental and physical standpoint,
01:26 which is I think that's important.
01:29 - You mentioned new coach.
01:31 What have you noticed looking at them on tape so far that they're doing differently
01:35 necessarily this year versus in years past?
01:39 - Well, I think they're the same.
01:40 You know, they've got good quality players throughout their team.
01:43 That's always been the case with Florida State.
01:46 You know, they can handle the ball under pressure well.
01:50 They make good decisions.
01:53 You know, they've got good athletes that are physical.
01:57 So these things aren't different.
02:01 You know, they spread the field out, I think, on offense.
02:06 They get a number of players involved in their attack.
02:10 I don't think that's changed as well.
02:14 You know, it'll be interesting to see whether they're a little more direct this year,
02:20 you know, whether that seems to be a little bit different.
02:25 They might be a little more direct than they have been.
02:29 So that's something that's a little bit different.
02:30 And their overall defending sort of system, their scheme is a little bit different as well.
02:40 Obviously, they're going to do different things set play-wise too because of a new coach,
02:45 a new setup.
02:47 So I think there's some subtle differences there.
02:51 But I think one thing about Florida State, which I've said for a long time, I don't think
02:57 they're the kind of team that's going to beat themselves.
02:59 You know, we're going to have to earn the win.
03:01 We're going to have to earn the result.
03:04 That's always been the case with them in the past 10 years.
03:06 You know, they're just a quality side.
03:10 You know, we have a lot of respect for them.
03:11 They do a lot of good things on both sides of the ball and in their set plays.
03:14 And they're a difficult team to break down.
03:18 And they're a difficult team to beat.
03:23 And I think they've got good, experienced players.
03:27 Even though they lost some players this year, I think they've got some good, returning,
03:30 experienced players that know what it means to win.
03:33 And they've just won most of their career.
03:39 So we're going to have to play well to win.
03:41 We know that.
03:42 We're going to have to play together.
03:46 But we're excited about the challenge.
03:47 You know, this is another top five game.