diff --git a/src/resolve/sourceComponent.ts b/src/resolve/sourceComponent.ts
index c4e059e33..bc3efec12 100644
--- a/src/resolve/sourceComponent.ts
+++ b/src/resolve/sourceComponent.ts
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ export class SourceComponent implements MetadataComponent {
   private readonly forceIgnore: ForceIgnore;
   private markedForDelete = false;
   private destructiveChangesType?: DestructiveChangesType;
-  private pathContentMap = new Map<string, string>();
+  private pathContentMap = new Map<string, JsonMap>();
 
   public constructor(
     props: ComponentProperties,
@@ -188,19 +188,18 @@ export class SourceComponent implements MetadataComponent {
   public async parseXml<T extends JsonMap>(xmlFilePath?: string): Promise<T> {
     const xml = xmlFilePath ?? this.xml;
     if (xml) {
-      let contents: string;
       if (this.pathContentMap.has(xml)) {
-        contents = this.pathContentMap.get(xml) as string;
+        return this.pathContentMap.get(xml) as T;
       } else {
-        contents = (await this.tree.readFile(xml)).toString();
-        this.pathContentMap.set(xml, contents);
+        const replacements = this.replacements?.[xml] ?? this.parent?.replacements?.[xml];
+        const contents = (await this.tree.readFile(xml)).toString();
+        const value = this.parseAndValidateXML<T>(
+          replacements ? await replacementIterations(contents, replacements) : contents,
+          xml
+        );
+        this.pathContentMap.set(xml, value);
+        return value;
       }
-
-      const replacements = this.replacements?.[xml] ?? this.parent?.replacements?.[xml];
-      return this.parseAndValidateXML<T>(
-        replacements ? await replacementIterations(contents, replacements) : contents,
-        xml
-      );
     }
     return {} as T;
   }
@@ -208,15 +207,13 @@ export class SourceComponent implements MetadataComponent {
   public parseXmlSync<T extends JsonMap>(xmlFilePath?: string): T {
     const xml = xmlFilePath ?? this.xml;
     if (xml) {
-      let contents: string;
       if (this.pathContentMap.has(xml)) {
-        contents = this.pathContentMap.get(xml) as string;
+        return this.pathContentMap.get(xml) as T;
       } else {
-        contents = this.tree.readFileSync(xml).toString();
+        const contents = this.parseAndValidateXML(this.tree.readFileSync(xml).toString(), xml);
         this.pathContentMap.set(xml, contents);
+        return contents as T;
       }
-
-      return this.parseAndValidateXML(contents, xml);
     }
     return {} as T;
   }
@@ -287,7 +284,7 @@ export class SourceComponent implements MetadataComponent {
   }
 
   private parse<T extends JsonMap>(contents: string): T {
-    const parsed = parser.parse(String(contents)) as T;
+    const parsed = parser.parse(contents) as T;
     const [firstElement] = Object.keys(parsed);
     if (firstElement === this.type.name) {
       return parsed;
diff --git a/test/resolve/forceIgnore.test.ts b/test/resolve/forceIgnore.test.ts
index 007ffbd24..f801a1d46 100644
--- a/test/resolve/forceIgnore.test.ts
+++ b/test/resolve/forceIgnore.test.ts
@@ -71,10 +71,6 @@ describe('ForceIgnore', () => {
     expect(fi.accepts(join('force-app', 'main', 'default', 'classes'))).to.be.true;
   });
 
-  /**
-   * TODO: Rework when approach to default patterns changes. We should be able
-   * to generally test the defaults system.
-   */
   describe('Defaults with new parser', () => {
     let forceIgnore: ForceIgnore;
     const root = join('some', 'path');
@@ -84,7 +80,7 @@ describe('ForceIgnore', () => {
       forceIgnore = new ForceIgnore();
     });
 
-    // the example's index here is specific to the rules order in ForceIgnore.DEFAULT_IGNORE
+    // these examples test the default behaviors
     const forceIgnoreExamples = ['abc.dup', '.xyz', 'package2-descriptor.json', 'package2-manifest.json'];
     forceIgnoreExamples.map((ignore) => {
       it(`Should ignore files starting with a ${ignore}`, () => {